November, from the Latin novem for nine, is the eleventh month of the year. The name comes from a time when the Romans had only ten named months totaling 304 days. The remaining days in the year were during winter and not assigned to a month. Interesting! With that out of the way, in this blog we’ll highlight November planetary events for sky watchers!
5 November — Uranus!
Famous as the butt of planetary jokes and puns, the “ice giant” Uranus will be visible all night on November 5th when it rises in “opposition” at sunset (hence it is opposite the Sun from Earth’s viewpoint). It will also be at its largest for the year: a diminutive 3.76″ of arc. It became magnitude 5.7 at the start of September this year and will stay that bright until early January 2022. Due to its distance and close-to-circular orbit, Uranus doesn’t vary that much in brightness over time. It’ll spend the rest of the year in the 5.8 – 5.9 magnitude range before the next opposition approaches. While technically a naked-eye target in dark skies, you’ll need magnification to confirm you’re looking at a planet and not a field star.
