The Local Weekly The heart and soul of our communities with news and information about the Sunshine Coast
Mercury will be will be well placed in the evening sky in November, achieving greatest elongation on the 24th and making a wide pair with the Moon on the 19th and 20th. Mercury will be 3° south of Saturn on the 28th. Venus is still prominent in the morning and will be 4° south of the Moon on the 17th. Mars is in Virgo all month in the mornings, and will be 3° north of the Moon on the 15th. Jupiter will be in close conjunction with Venus on the 13th, just 0.4° north; they’ll be only 14° from the Sun, but you will be able to see it with a telescope. Uranus is well placed in the evening sky in Pisces. Neptune is also well placed in the evening sky and will be occulted by the Moon on the 27th. On November 5 the S. Taurid meteor shower peaks, and the N. Taurids peak on the 12th. The 17th is the night to watch the Leonid meteor shower, which often produces many meteors, and weather permitting, the Sunshine Coast Centre will have their observatory open for public viewing that night.
On Nov. 10 at 7:30pm, at the Arts Centre in Sechelt, the Sunshine Coast Centre welcomes Douglas Scott, whose topic will be “You can call it just ALMA: The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array”. ALMA is a world observatory to study the cold universe, observing low-energy processes. ALMA operates 24 hours a day, opening a window for high-resolution exploration
of the universe, peering through dust clouds that visible wavelengths cannot penetrate. ALMA observes light emitted by cold temperature objects in space, allowing scientists to unravel questions concerning planet formation and the creation of organic molecules in space. You can find more information on ALMA at http://www.almaobservatory.org or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Large_Millimeter_Array. Admission is free: donations gratefully accepted at the door.
The Sunshine Coast Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is now offering the “Explore the Universe Observing Program” to the public for free. This is open to both the public and members, and can be accomplished using nothing more complicated than binoculars. On completion you earn a certificate and observer’s pin. Contact the Centre at info@coastastronomy.ca or check out the national RASC site here for details: https://www.rasc.ca/explore-universe
