November 8
The Sea Monster's Nostril
Sun Position
The Sun is in Scorpius at approximately -18° declination. Northern nights are long; Southern Hemisphere is approaching its pre-summer peak of afternoon warmth.
Sky Highlight
The Taurid shower continues. November is also the month when the great autumn constellations (Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Pegasus) are at their highest and best-placed for both Northern Hemisphere observers and mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere observers with a clear northern horizon.
Deep Sky Object
M77 (NGC 1068), Seyfert galaxy in Cetus, roughly 47 million light-years away. The central nucleus is unusually bright because a supermassive black hole is actively feeding; Cetus is the sea monster spread wide across the southern portion of the autumn sky, and M77 is one of its most rewarding deep-sky targets. Accessible from both hemispheres.
Featured Star
Menkar (α Ceti) is a red giant 249 light-years away, spectral class M1.5IIIa, swollen and ruddy, burning through its last major evolutionary phase. Its name comes from the Arabic for nostril, marking the head of Cetus, and its reddish color is visible to the naked eye in a dark sky.
Around This Date
- November 8, 1656Christiaan Huygens demonstrated that Saturn's mysterious appendage, debated since Galileo's time, was a solid ring system, published in Systema Saturnium.
- November 12, 1833The Leonid meteor storm of 1833 produced an estimated 100,000 meteors per hour over North America, triggering systematic scientific study of meteor showers for the first time.
Menkar glows red in the sea monster's face, an evolved star near the end of its patient wait.