The
purpose of this feature is to give scout leaders, educators and naturalists an
idea of some of the natural events coming up each month. We will try to
cover a variety of natural events ranging from sky events to calling periods of
amphibians, bird and mammal watching tips, prominent wildflowers and
anything else that comes to mind. We will also note prominent
constellations appearing over the eastern horizon at mid-evening each month for
our area for those who would like to learn the constellations. If you have
suggestions for other types of natural information you would like to see added
to this calendar, let us know!
Though we link book references to nationwide sources, we encourage you to
support your local book store whenever possible.
Notes From October 2022
The recent scarcity of rain has left the pond beside my house at the lowest
level I've seen while I've been here at Cloudland.
Drought conditions exist
throughout Georgia, and much of the Southeast. Hopefully the rains we
are getting at the end of this month are a sign of things to come.
The pond beside my house October 25th
Sky Events for November 2022
The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks in the morning hours of November
18th. There is a chance that this year's shower could be better than
average, with additional meteors visible in the morning hours of November
19th. Sleeping bags on lounge chairs and coffee are optional. Just face
east and enjoy the show.
A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the morning hours of November
8th! The Moon enters the umbra, or darkest part of Earth's shadow, at 4:09am
EST (remember that Daylight Savings Times ends on November 6th) or 3:09am
CST. Totality begins at 5:16am EST or 4:16am CST. Mid-eclipse will be at
5:59am EST or 4:59am CST. The Moon will have set by the time it exits
Earth's shadow at 6:42am EST or 5:42am CST.
The
eclipsed Moon will be fairly low in the western sky, so there may be some
good photographic opportunities there!
Total Lunar Eclipse Montage, January 20th-21st, 2019. Televue 85
apochromatic refractor, 2X barlow lens, 1.15X field flattener,
Nikon D750 camera, 4 second exposure for totality. True
positions, showing the size of the earth's shadow.
Morning Sky:
See above for details on a total lunar eclipse in the morning
hours of November 8th and the Leonid Meteor Shower on November
17th and 18th.
Evening Sky:
At the beginning of the month, look for bright Jupiter in the eastern sky after sunset in Pisces,
below the "square of Pegasus". Saturn transits about an hours
and a half after
sunset in Capricornus. Bright Mars rises about 2-1/2 hours after sunset in Taurus. Mars, Aldebaran,
and Betelguese in Orion make a nice triangle in red! This is a great time to start
observing Mars. Mars comes to opposition in December. The red
planet is appearing large enough to show some details to patient
observers using small telescopes.
Constellations:
NGC 1300 in Eridanus, November 18th, 19th and 20th, 2014.
The
views below show the sky looking east at 10:15pm EST on November 15th. The first view shows the sky with the constellations outlined and names
depicted. Star and planet names are in green. Constellation
names are in blue. The second view shows the same scene without
labels.
Auriga,
the Charioteer, with its bright star
Capella,
is
prominent in the northeast. Look for the bright stars
Castor
and
Pollux
as the constellation
Gemini,
The Twins, clears the horizon. In the southeast, mighty
Orion
clears the horizon with its bright stars
Betelgeuse
and
Rigel. Note the difference in color between the two stars. Betelgeuse
is a red giant and looks orange. Rigelis a very hot supergiant and looks bluish. Looking at the center of the
three "sword" stars with binoculars, you can see
M42,
the Orion Nebula. Just poking its head above the horizon is
Lepus,
The Hare. Look above the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus to spot the
Pleiades,
or the Seven Sisters.
Above the southeast horizon the stars of
Eridanus, the
River, wind their way down to the horizon and disappear below it.
The pretty barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300, shown above, is along
its path.
November 15th, 10:15pm EST, Looking East
November 15th, 10:15pm EST, Looking East
On Learning the
Constellations:
We advise learning a few constellations each month, and then following them
through the seasons. Once you associate a particular constellation coming
over the eastern horizon at a certain time of year, you may start thinking about
it like an old friend, looking forward to its arrival each season. The
stars in the evening scene above, for instance, will always be in the same place
relative to the horizon at the same time and date each November. Of
course, the planets do move slowly through the constellations, but with practice
you will learn to identify them from their appearance. In particular,
learn the brightest stars for they will guide you to the fainter stars. Once you can locate the more prominent constellations, you can "branch out" to
other constellations around them. It may take you a little while to get a
sense of scale, to translate what you see on the computer screen or what you see
on the page of a book to what you see in the sky. Look for patterns, like the stars that make up Orion.
The Earth's rotation causes the constellations to
appear to move across the sky just as the Sun and the Moon appear to do. If you go outside earlier than the time shown on the charts, the constellations
will be closer to the eastern horizon. If you observe later, they will
have climbed higher.
As each season progresses, the Earth's motion around the
Sun causes the constellations to appear a little farther towards the west each
night for any given time of night. The westward motion of the
constellations is equivalent to two hours per month.
A good book to learn the constellations is
Patterns in the Sky, by Hewitt-White.
For sky watching tips, an inexpensive good guide is
Secrets of Stargazing, by Becky Ramotowski.
A good general reference book on astronomy is the Peterson
Field Guide,
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, by Pasachoff. The book retails for around $14.00.
The Virtual
Moon Atlas is a terrific way to learn the
surface features of the Moon. And it's free software. You can
download the Virtual Moon Atlas here.
Apps:
The Sky Safari 6 basic version is free and a great aid for
the beginning stargazer. I really love the
Sky Safari 6 Pro. Both are available for iOS and
Android operating systems. There are three versions. The Pro is
simply the best astronomy app I've ever seen.
The description of the Pro version reads, "includes over 100 million stars, 3 million galaxies
down to 18th magnitude, and 750,000 solar system objects; including every comet
and asteroid ever discovered."
You may also want to try the very beautiful app
Sky Guide.
Though not as data intensive as Sky Safari, Sky Guide goes all out
to show the sheer beauty of the night sky.
Great for locating the planets.
A
nother
great app is the Photographer's
Ephemeris. Great for finding sunrise, moonrise, sunset and
moonset times and the precise place on the horizon that the event will
occur. Invaluable not only for planning photographs, but also nice
to plan an outing to watch the full moon rise. Available for both
androids and iOS operating systems.
Amphibians:
Spring Peeper
I
think of November as the quietest time of year for
Tennessee frogs and toads. However, some song can still occasionally be
heard. Listen for Spring Peepers,
Upland Chorus Frogs and
Southern Leopard Frogs.
Checking around ponds at night with a flashlight held next to your temple
will often show the eye shine of Southern Leopard Frogs,
Green Frogs and
Bullfrogs. As in October, you can locate many of the frogs and toads
that have been calling more frequently earlier in the year by driving the
back roads slowly on rainy nights. This is a two person job.
One person watches the road for amphibians and one person looks out for
other vehicles.
Recommended: The Frogs and Toads of North America,
Lang Elliott, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Nature Notes Archives: Nature Notes
was a page we published in 2001 and 2002 containing our observations about
everything from the northern lights display of November 2001 to frog and
salamander egg masses.
Night scenes prepared with The
Sky Professional from Software Bisque
