November 29
The She-Goat Rising
Sun Position
The Sun is in Sagittarius near -22° declination. Northern Hemisphere nights are among the longest of the year. Southern Hemisphere is approaching the summer solstice in approximately three weeks.
Sky Highlight
Capella in Auriga rises in the northeast after dark and is visible all night from northern mid-latitudes, circumpolar above latitudes of about 44°N. The Winter Hexagon (an asterism of six bright stars including Capella, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, and Aldebaran) is beginning to assemble in the eastern sky by late November evenings.
Deep Sky Object
M38, open cluster in Auriga, about 4,200 light-years away. Auriga contains three Messier clusters (M36, M37, M38) in a relatively small patch of sky, all visible in the same binocular sweep. M38 is the loosest and most sprawling of the three, with a faint cross-shaped outline of its brightest stars sometimes noted by observers. Best from northern latitudes.
Featured Star
Capella (α Aurigae) is a yellow giant pair 42.9 light-years away, two G-type giants (G8III + G1III) in a 104-day orbit that cannot be split visually even in large telescopes, though interferometry has resolved them. It is the sixth-brightest star in the sky, and its combined yellow-gold color is notably warm compared to the blue-white winter stars rising around it.
Around This Date
- November 29, 1803A fireball and meteorite fall over L'Aigle, France, produced over 3,000 meteorite fragments; Biot's subsequent report to the French Academy of Sciences helped establish that meteorites fall from space.
- December 1, 1959The Antarctic Treaty was signed, establishing the continent as a scientific preserve; Antarctica hosts several major astronomical observatories today, including telescopes at the South Pole.
Capella's two giant components orbit each other every 104 days, a tight, inseparable pair that the sky presents as one warm gold star.