[ISTATALK-L] Skylights

[Jim Kaler <kaler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Skylights, University of Illinois Department of Astronomy.
Astronomy News for the week starting Friday, November 24, 2006. 
Phone (217) 333-8789.
Prepared by Jim Kaler.
Find Skylights on the Web at
     http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/skylights.html, 
and Stars (Stars of the Week) with constellation photographs at
     http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.html.

Support science literacy by joining the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific, among the world's premier providers of astro education and
recognized by the Independent Charities of America as one of the
top charitable organizations in the US.  Get the outstanding
astronomy magazine Mercury and a variety of other benefits.  Call
1-415-337-1100, then press 1.

"Astronomy: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe," an audio course on
CD with 100 page study guide narrated and written by Jim Kaler, is
available from Recorded Books.

"Vault of the Heavens: Exploring the Solar System's Place in the
Universe," an audio course on audio CD with 100 page study guide
narrated and written by Jim Kaler, is available from Barnes and
Noble.

Coming in December: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars.

The Moon begins the week in its waxing crescent phase as it heads
toward first quarter the night of Monday, November 27th, the exact
phase reached about the time of Moonset in North America, after
which it waxes in the gibbous phase.  Though one is hardly aware of
it, the Moon will pass south of Neptune on Sunday the 26th and then
two days later south of Uranus.

For awhile now, all the ancient bright planets but Saturn have been
hovering near the Sun.  This week Mercury breaks out of the pack,
reaching a greatest western elongation of 20 degrees to the west of
the Sun on Saturday the 25th.  Though the angle is far from the
possible maximum, the tilt of the ecliptic relative to the horizon
is such that the planet rises rather well up in morning twilight
fairly far down and to the left of Spica in Virgo.  This appearance
is rather unusual, in that Mercury actually rises slightly BEFORE
the beginning of formal dawn.  Jupiter and Mars remain lost in
morning twilight, while Venus has yet to clear evening's last glow. 
They will begin to break out toward the end of the year.

That again leaves the sky to Saturn.  Rising around 10:30 PM, the
planet more and more becomes an evening object.  Look for it just
to the east of Regulus in Leo, the planet 2.4 times (nearly a full
magnitude) the brighter of the two.  Even a small telescope will
reveal not just the rings, but a small "star" near the planet that
is Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, the only satellite in the
Solar System with a thick atmosphere, one whose clouds are believed
to rain liquid methane.