November 14
The Faint Tip
Sun Position
The Sun is in Scorpius at about -21° declination. Northern Hemisphere midday sun is low on the horizon; Southern Hemisphere midday sun is near overhead for tropical latitudes.
Sky Highlight
The Leonid meteor shower is building toward its November 17–18 peak. Pre-peak nights can still produce above-average rates, especially in the hours before dawn when the radiant in Leo is highest. Leonids are best observed from the Northern Hemisphere, where Leo rises higher, though Southern Hemisphere observers can still catch them before dawn.
Deep Sky Object
NGC 869 / NGC 884, the Double Cluster in Perseus, about 7,500 light-years away. The two clusters are physically associated and separated by only a few hundred light-years, making them one of the finest binocular objects in the sky. Each cluster contains several hundred hot blue-white stars. Well-placed for northern observers; visible from mid-southern latitudes with a northern horizon.
Featured Star
Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a blue-white giant 442 light-years away, spectral class B3III, the faintest of the five main stars in Cassiopeia's W, its apparent modesty entirely a function of distance rather than intrinsic faintness. It is in fact a luminous, hot star that would blaze brilliantly at closer range.
Around This Date
- November 14, 1969Apollo 12 launched, the second crewed lunar landing mission, bound for the Ocean of Storms.
- November 16, 1974The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico transmitted the Arecibo message toward globular cluster M13, a 1,679-bit binary transmission describing humanity and Earth's location.
Segin sits at the edge of the W, looking faint only because 442 light-years separates us from what is actually a hot, brilliant giant.