November 30
The Month Closes on Orion's Foot
Sun Position
The Sun is in Sagittarius at roughly -22° declination, near its most southerly position of the year. Northern Hemisphere darkness per day is at its seasonal peak; Southern Hemisphere is in midsummer.
Sky Highlight
By late November, Orion is well up in the east by 10 p.m. from northern mid-latitudes and rising in the east after midnight from southern mid-latitudes. The constellation will dominate the winter sky for both hemispheres. Rigel, the lower-right corner of Orion's figure, is one of the first Orion stars to clear the horizon.
Deep Sky Object
M42, the Orion Nebula, stellar nursery about 1,350 light-years away. Visible to the naked eye as the hazy middle star of Orion's sword, and spectacular in any telescope. The Trapezium cluster embedded at its core is a group of young O-type stars whose ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas. Visible from both hemispheres; November is when northern observers first get a good look at it in the evening.
Featured Star
Rigel (β Orionis) is a blue-white supergiant 860 light-years away, spectral class B8Ia, intrinsically about 120,000 times the luminosity of the Sun, one of the most powerful stars visible to the naked eye. Despite being designated β rather than α in Orion, it is consistently brighter than Betelgeuse, marking the hunter's left foot and the approaching splendor of the winter sky.
Around This Date
- November 30, 1954Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, was struck by a 4-kilogram meteorite that penetrated her roof and ceiling, the only well-documented case of a meteorite hitting a human being.
- December 3, 1973Pioneer 10 made its closest approach to Jupiter, the first spacecraft to fly by the planet, returning the first detailed images of its cloud bands.
November ends with Rigel just clearing the horizon, the winter sky's long rehearsal is over, and the main event is here.