Comet ISON should be a fine target through binoculars and telescopes before dawn and an easy, if not spectacular, naked-eye object late in the month. The comet races from Leo, through Virgo, and into Libra as it heads toward its closest approach to the Sun on November 28. Along the way, it passes Virgo’s brightest star, Spica, on the 17th and 18th. The following week, it appears near Mercury and Saturn. For complete comet ocoverage, visit
www.Astronomy.com/ISON.
Mercury passes between Earth and the Sun on November 1 and then quickly climbs into view before dawn. At greatest western elongation on the 17th, it stands 10° high in the east-southeast 45 minutes before sunrise. The innermost planet then shines at magnitude –0.6, so it stands out against the twilight sky.
The inner planet’s relatively high altitude and brightness makes this its finest morning appearance of the year. If you can tear yourself away from Comet ISON long enough to aim your telescope at the planet, you will see a disk that is 7" in diameter and about 60 percent lit.
Mercury points the way to
Saturn on November 25 and 26, when the inner planet lies less than 1° from the ringed world. On the 25th, Mercury appears higher than its companion. The two switch positions the following morning. If you want to observe Saturn through a telescope, wait until it climbs higher in next month’s sky.
Residents along North America’s East Coast can witness a partial
solar eclipse as the Sun rises November 3. From Boston, the Moon covers 63 percent of the Sun’s diameter as the pair rises. In Miami, our satellite hides 48 percent of the Sun from view. If you watch the partial eclipse, be sure to look through a safe solar filter.
By the afternoon of the 3rd, the Moon’s shadow sweeps across equatorial Africa. People situated along the narrow path of totality will see the Sun’s disk disappear behind the Moon and usher in one of nature’s finest spectacles.