November 19
The Red Eye of the Bull
Sun Position
The Sun is in Scorpius at roughly -22° declination. Northern Hemisphere nights are long; Southern Hemisphere summer solstice is about a month away.
Sky Highlight
Leonid activity continues after its peak, with elevated rates for a day or two on either side. This is also a good evening to watch for the Taurus region: the Pleiades, Hyades, and Aldebaran are all rising in the east after dark, offering some of the richest naked-eye star-field in the sky.
Deep Sky Object
NGC 1647, open cluster in Taurus, about 1,800 light-years away. The Taurus region is rich in clusters at different distances and ages, and NGC 1647 provides a useful comparison to the much nearer Hyades. Accessible from both hemispheres.
Featured Star
Aldebaran (α Tauri) is a red giant 65.3 light-years away, spectral class K5III, one of the few bright red giants near enough that its angular diameter has been measured directly. It appears to sit in the Hyades cluster but is actually half the cluster's distance, an unrelated foreground star. Its ruddy color is visible to the unaided eye, earning it the role of the bull's bloodshot eye in Taurus.
Around This Date
- November 19, 1969Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon in the Ocean of Storms, the second crewed lunar landing.
- November 19, 1996Space Shuttle Columbia launched on STS-80, which became the longest Space Shuttle mission at 17 days; astronaut Story Musgrave became the only person to fly on all five orbiters.
Aldebaran's orange-red color is not subtle, it glows with the warmth of a star that has already begun to swell and cool.