Tonight's Sky: November
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In November, hunt for the fainter constellations of fall, including Pisces, Aries, and Triangulum. They will guide you to find several galaxies and a pair of white stars. Stay tuned for space-based views of spiral galaxy M74 and the Triangulum Galaxy, which are shown in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light.
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Sonoma State University.
- Starfield images created with Stellarium
- Mythological constellations from Firmamentium Sobiescanium sive Uranographilia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory
Musical track The Far River written by John Serrie, from the album And the Stars Go With You, courtesy of New World Music, Ltd.
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Text, November. Tonight's sky. Constellations. Stylized drawings of a lion, a ram, and a bull.
South, 8:30 PM. Looking up into a night sky filled with stars. Text, Dark cold nights of november make for good hunting for the fainter constellations of fall. A constellation shaped like a bit square with three protruding limbs. Text, Pegasus flies high in the southeast after nightfall and is a good guidepost for some of autumn's dimmer patterns. A drawing of a winged horse appears over the constellation, its front feet and head over the constellation's protrusions. Text, Look south and east of Pegasus' prominent great square of stars for Pisces, the fish. Two small irregular circle shaped constellations connected by two arching lines that meet at a point. Text, in green legend, the two fish tied together with a rope represent Aphrodite and eros, who transformed themselves to escape a monster. A drawing of two swimming fish attached by rope appear over the constellation. The irregular circle forming the right fish is highlighted. Text, the sprawling pattern includes the Circlet, marking the western fish. Located below the pattern of the eastern fish is the spiral galaxy M 74. Zoom in on M 74, a tan and brown galaxy of clouds spiralling out from a bright central point fading to bluish. Red stars spread along the margins of the galaxy. Text, Visible and infrared light. Nasa's hubble space telescope has rendered it in exquisite detail. M 74 is known as a grand design spiral and has two prominent bluish spiral arms wound neatly around the redder galactic nucleus.
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