A Beaver Moon Eclipse Meets Mars And The Seven Sister Stars: What You Can See In The Night Sky This Week – Forbes

The night skies will this week be dominated by a a waxing gibbous moon, though the full moon "Beaver ... [+] Moon" at the end of the week will also be a penumbral lunar eclipse.

Each Monday I pick out the northern hemispheres celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.

With a Last Quarter Moon waxing towards Sundays full Beaver Moon lunar eclipse, theres a rather bleached night sky this week.

However, with the Moon getting close to Mars, plenty of planets on show and Thanksgiving in North America perhaps affording some time to stargaze, its a great week to get outside and enjoy the fall night sky.

How to find the Moon near Mars on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

An 83%-lit waxing gibbous Moon will be in conjunction with Mars today. The two will be just 5 from each other right after sunset in Europe and during the day in North America, though still close as darkness falls. Look southeast as soon as it gets dark and you should see them shining together.

How to find the planets and the Solar System's ecliptic on Thursday, November 26, 2020.

Tonight it will be possible to see the eclipticthe flat plane of the Solar System and the Suns path through the skyjust by looking south right after dark. Imagine a giant curved line going from east (where the Sun rises) to west (where the Sun has just set) and on your left (in the southeast) youll see a 90%-li Moon and Mars, and on your right (in the southwest) youll see bright Jupiter and, very slightly higher in the sky, dimmer Saturn. The Moon orbits Earth along a path thats 5 inclined to the ecliptic, so frequently appears close to the planets in our night sky.

As the Moon orbits Earth in a slight ellipse, there are two points every month where its closest to Earth (perigee) and furthest away (apogee). The latter occurs today with our 94%-lit satellite 405,891 km from Earth. It makes the coming full Beaver Moon the opposite of a supermoona micro moon.

How to see an almost Full Moon split the Pleiades and the Hyades open clusters of stars in the ... [+] constellation of Taurus.

The two most famous open clusters in the night skythe neighboring Pleiades and the Hyades in the constellation of Taurusare today split by the full Beaver Micro Moon.

Although the full Moon peaks at 100% illumination at 09:30 Universal Time on Monday, November 30, thats irrelevant for the observer. The time to look at any full Moon is at moonrise or moonset where you are at the closest dusk or dawn. So get in place on Sunday with a good view of the eastern horizon to see the Beaver Moon rising.Then wait around for it to get dark to see the Pleiades and Taurus nearby, which youll most easily see with binoculars.

In the early hours of Monday, November 30, theres a second rather special second time to view the full Moon as a rare Beaver Moon Eclipse occurs.

A full moon during a penumbral lunar eclipse.

Visible from the Americas, Australia and Asia, the Beaver Moon will pass through Earths outer shadow (penumbra) at 07:32 Universal Time, causing a slight penumbral lunar eclipse that will see 83% of the Moon visibly darken at 9:42 Universal Timejust 12 minutes after being 100% full. Thats 04:42 EDT and 01:42 PDT, so an early start will be required in North America. If youre up that early, be sure to watch the moonset in the west, which will arguably be just as beautiful a sight, if not more so.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Visit link:

A Beaver Moon Eclipse Meets Mars And The Seven Sister Stars: What You Can See In The Night Sky This Week - Forbes