To see a exact view out of your location, attempt Stellarium Online.
Moon and Spica
The previous waning crescent moon can information you to the intense star Spica on the mornings of November 20 and 21, 2022. time to look is roughly an hour earlier than dawn.
By the way in which, if you’re up early the next day, November twenty second, search for a really slender previous crescent moon close to the horizon. November 23 is the new moon, and the start of the following lunar cycle.
Also, look ahead to pretty earthshine illuminating the darkish facet of the moon.
Spica is the brightest star in Virgo
Spica is the brightest star within the constellation Virgo the Maiden. It’s situated 260 light-years away and seems to us on Earth as a single bluish-white star. It shines at magnitude +1.04.
However, Spica is a pair of blue big stars. Both stars are bigger and warmer than our sun, and so they’re separated by solely 11 million miles (practically 18 million km). In reality, Spica’s two stars are so shut, and so they orbit so rapidly round one another, that their mutual gravity distorts every star into an egg form. You’d have to take a look at the celebs’ spectra to even know that there are two of them and never one.
Spica is among the hottest 1st-magnitude stars. The hottest of the pair is 22,400 Kelvin (about 40,000 F or 22,000 C). That’s scorching in distinction to the sun’s 5,800 Kelvin (about 10,000 F or 5,500 C). By the way in which, this star would possibly sometime explode as a Type II supernova.
Bottom line: Catch the previous crescent moon by Spica earlier than dawn on November 20 and 21, 2022. If you’re fortunate, it’s possible you’ll discover the gorgeous glow of earthshine on the skinny crescent moon.
For more great observing events in the coming weeks, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide
