Sky Matters: What to see, and why you're seeing them this November
Saturn’s Apl/steve Soaring Of Titan Picture: Artist’s Dunes Moon Nasa/johns Concept Dragonfly Hopkins The Gribben Of Over
Sometimes a little bit of planning does no harm.
This is particularly true in November because after a seemingly extended absence from our skies, the planets start to make a visible return during the month.
The Moon is going to be a very useful pointer as it passes relatively close to Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, in that order.
But as we observe these planets from Earth, think of the many spacecraft designed to explore them or their moons that have either reached their destination, are on their way or in the last stages of construction.
On November 4, Venus will shine brightly to the top right of the Moon as the Sun sets.
This is a planet that has undergone catastrophic changes to its climate.
It may have started out similar to Earth about 4.5bn years ago but has somehow evolved into a hellish world of sulphuric acid rain and surface temperatures of 465ºC.
Given the differences, and the difficulties of understanding how this happened, it might not be surprising to learn that a whole suite of spacecraft are planned to visit Venus in the next decade.
For the first time, a private consortium, led by the Rocket Lab company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will head for Venus in late 2024 (earliest) to search for signs of life, while India will be the third nation state to put a spacecraft in orbit in 2028.
These will be followed by two missions from NASA and one from the European Space Agency in the early 2030.
On November 10 the planet Saturn will be to the upper right of the Moon in the late evening sky.
One of the moons of Saturn is called Titan. It harbours an underground ocean of liquid water. Understanding this bizarre moon is the task of Dragonfly, a NASA mission scheduled to launch in 2028.
Dragonfly will use drone technology to move around Titan and examine its surface, hopefully telling us more about how it was formed, and possibly whether it could house life.
On November 16 the Moon will be above the bright planet Jupiter.
Right now, there are two spacecraft en route to study some of the moons of Jupiter, and indeed to learn more about the giant planet itself.
The first to be launched was the European Space Agency (ESA) JUICE mission on April 14, followed by Nasa’s Europa Clipper mission on October 14.
Between them they will closely study three of the moons — Europa, Ganymede and Callisto — in about six to eight years time.
The first two are known to have vast underground oceans of salty water, actually more water than in all the Earth’s oceans.
The three moons are very different to each other, and also different to Titan, so understanding how such diversity has evolved in the solar system will advance our knowledge of planetary formation.
On November 20 the planet Mars will be to the upper right of the Moon, shining with a familiar red hue.
Mars is currently being examined by multiple spacecraft and landers. The Perseverance and Curiosty Rovers (Nasa) are operating from the Martian surface while orbiters examine from above: Tianwen-1 (China), Hope (United Arab Emirates), Exomars (ESA), Maven, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express and Odyssey (all Nasa).
This plethora of craft will be joined by Nasa’s Escapade (2025), Mars Moons eXploration (2026), Mars Sample Return (2030) and ESA’s Exomars Rover (2028).
The Moon also features in November as on the 15th it will be the last supermoon of 2024.
Given its proximity to Earth it’s not surprising it’s the most visited world in the solar system.
The coming years will see even more activity, with people returning to the Moon in 2026 on Nasa’s Artemis mission (all going well) — the first since 1972.
So if you head out to look at the planets this month, think about the incredible achievements of teams of people who, collectively, have enabled us to look at them close up.