by Mark Phillips
This is the first Sky Diary after Alan Pickup stopped writing his excellent ones for us and the Scotsman after 50 years! This is still experimental.
Much of the material is provided by Dominic Ford on his excellent site in-the-sky.org
The chart shows the sky at 21:00 GMT 15 November 2024.
You can see the Sky in November 2024 presentation from Mark Phillips at our 1 November meeting.
Highlights:
- Jupiter is the brightest and easiest to observe planet on display, visible all night long. Saturn also still visible with rings closing up. Mars rising later on but small size telescopically.
- Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) worth watching low in the SW.
- The Leonids meteor shower peaks on 17 November. Rates maybe 10 – 12 per hour but the waning gibbous moon will interfere.
- New Moon 1 Nov, Full Moon 16 Nov
ASE members’ images:
Mike Christie
David Brett
David Brett
C-2023 A3 Larry Cable – Douglas Heggie
C-2023 A3 Mark Phillips – Douglas Heggie
Click on an item to expand for more information:
For 15 Nov 2024 from in-the-sky.org
Mercury is emerging into the evening sky as it approaches greatest elongation east. From Edinburgh, it is not readily observable since it lies so far south that it will never rise more than 8° above the horizon.
07 Sep 2024 – Mercury at highest altitude in morning sky
16 Nov 2024 – Mercury at greatest elongation east
24 Nov 2024 – Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky
20 Dec 2024 – Mercury at highest altitude in morning sky
Venus is emerging into the evening sky as it approaches greatest elongation east. From Edinburgh, it is not observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is no higher than 5° above the horizon at dusk.
24 Oct 2023 – Venus at greatest elongation west
10 Jan 2025 – Venus at greatest elongation east
10 Feb 2025 – Venus at highest altitude in evening sky
31 May 2025 – Venus at greatest elongation west
Mars is currently visible as a morning object. From Edinburgh, it is visible in the morning sky, becoming accessible around 21:56, when it reaches an altitude of 9° above your north-eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 04:56, 55° above your southern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight around 07:07, 47° above your south-western horizon.
12 Jan 2023 – Mars ends retrograde motion
06 Dec 2024 – Mars enters retrograde motion
12 Jan 2025 – Mars at perigee
16 Jan 2025 – Mars at opposition
Jupiter is currently approaching opposition and is visible as a morning object. From Edinburgh, it is visible in the morning sky, becoming accessible around 18:27, when it reaches an altitude of 7° above your north-eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 01:45, 56° above your southern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight around 07:20, 21° above your western horizon.
09 Oct 2024 – Jupiter enters retrograde motion
07 Dec 2024 – Jupiter at opposition
04 Feb 2025 – Jupiter ends retrograde motion
11 Nov 2025 – Jupiter enters retrograde motion
Saturn is currently an early evening object, now receding into evening twilight. From Edinburgh, it is visible in the evening sky, becoming accessible around 16:57 (BST), 17° above your south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 19:29, 25° above your southern horizon. It will continue to be observable until around 23:05, when it sinks below 11° above your south-western horizon.
08 Sep 2024 – Saturn at opposition
15 Nov 2024 – Saturn ends retrograde motion
23 Mar 2025 – Saturn ring plane crossing
06 May 2025 – Equinox on Saturn
In-The-Sky.org.
| Comet name | Mag | Constellation | Separation from Sun | Trend | Absolute magnitude last updated |
| C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) | 5.0 | Virgo | 17° | Brightening | 5 Sep 2024 |
| 13P/Olbers | 10.5 | Virgo | 32° | Fading | 3 Oct 2024 |
| 12P/Pons-Brooks | 11.6 | Centaurus | 46° | Fading – in outburst | 3 Oct 2024 |
| 37P/Forbes | 12.3 | Scorpius | 58° | Fading | 2 Oct 2018 |
| C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) | 12.4 | Hydra | 46° | Brightening | 3 Oct 2024 |
| 154P/Brewington | 12.8 | Lynx | 68° | Fading | 8 Feb 2017 |
| C/2022 E2 (ATLAS) | 13.2 | Lynx | 85° | Brightening | 3 Oct 2024 |
| C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 13.5 | Cygnus | 103° | Fading | 1 May 2024 |
| C/2023 C2 (ATLAS) | 13.9 | Scorpius | 73° | Fading | 5 Sep 2024 |
| C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) | 14.2 | Gemini | 94° | Brightening | 2 Dec 2023 |
| C/2021 G2 (ATLAS) | 14.3 | Virgo | 19° | Fading | 4 Apr 2024 |
The Leonid meteor shower will be active from 6 November to 30 November, producing its peak rate of meteors around 17 November.
Over this period, there will be a chance of seeing Leonid meteors whenever the shower’s radiant point – in the constellation Leo – is above the horizon, with the number of visible meteors increasing the higher the radiant point is in the sky.
Seen from Edinburgh , the shower will not be visible before around 22:01 each night, when its radiant point rises above your eastern horizon. It will then remain active until dawn breaks around 07:08.
The radiant point culminates (is highest in the sky) after dawn – at around 07:00 GMT – and so the shower is likely produce its best displays shortly before dawn, when its radiant point is highest.
At this time, the Earth’s rotation turns Edinburgh to face optimally towards the direction of the incoming meteors, maximising the number that rain vertically downwards, producing short trails close to the radiant point. At other times, there will be fewer meteors burning up over Edinburgh, but those that do will tend to enter the atmosphere at an oblique angle, producing long-lived meteors that may traverse a wide area of the sky before completely burning up.
The shower is expected to reach peak activity at around 12:00 GMT on 17 November 2024, and so the best displays might be seen before dawn on 17 November.
At its peak, the shower is expected to produce a nominal rate of around 15 meteors per hour (ZHR). However, this zenithal hourly rate is calculated assuming a perfectly dark sky and that the radiant of the shower is situated directly overhead. In practice, any real observing sight will fall short of these ideal conditions. The number of meteors you are likely to see is thus lower than this, and can be estimated using the ZHR formula.
From Edinburgh, the radiant of the shower will appear at a peak altitude of 56° above your horizon, and on the basis of this, we estimate that you may be able to see up to 12 meteors per hour at the shower’s peak.
The Moon, in Taurus, will be only 2 days past full phase at the shower’s peak, presenting significant interference throughout the night.
The parent body responsible for creating the Leonid shower has been identified as comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle.
| Date | Age of Moon | Sun | Moon | ||||||||
| Rise | Culm | Set | Constellation | Rise | Culm | Set | Constellation | ||||
| 2024 | Nov | 01 | 30 days | 07:17 | 11:54 | 16:31 | Libra | 07:23 | 11:49 | 16:02 | Virgo |
| 2024 | Nov | 08 | 07 days | 07:32 | 11:55 | 16:17 | Libra | 14:18 | 17:54 | 21:42 | Capricornus |
| 2024 | Nov | 15 | 14 days | 07:47 | 11:55 | 16:04 | Libra | 15:17 | 23:57 | 07:24 | Aries |
| 2024 | Nov | 22 | 21 days | 08:01 | 11:57 | 15:53 | Libra | 22:43 | 05:43 | 13:40 | Leo |
Use the chevrons to choose the month: