Mercury is a morning star rising about 05h 30m during the first three weeks of November. At greatest western elongation (19°) on the 8th it brightens from +1.0 magnitude on the 1st to -1.0 by the 30th. It should be observable with the naked eye during the first three weeks of the month in morning twilight. Look low in the southeastern sky, above where the Sun will rise. After mid-month it will be slipping down towards the Sun and so the advantage of a brighter Mercury will be offset by a brighter background sky. By the 30th it rises only an hour before the Sun. Thin waning crescent Moon nearby on the 8th. Venus is a brilliant -4.3 magnitude, rising about 02h 30m on the 1st but not until 03h 30m by the 30th. In Virgo, Venus will run into morning twilight in February 2008 and will be very poorly placed and unobservable until November when it will become conspicuous in the evening sky. Moon nearby on the 5th and 6th. Venus is above Spica on the 28th. Mars is in Gemini, rising about 19h 30m on the 1st and by 17h 30m by the 30th when it will have brightened to -1.2 magnitude. Stationary on the 15th it will then move slowly westwards against the stars (retrograding) as it approaches opposition on the 24th December at -1.7 magnitude. Moon near Mars on the 26th and 27th, being very close above at 06h on the 27th.

Jupiter is in Ophiuchus and a bright -1.8 magnitude but is low in the southwest after sunset, setting about 18h 30m on the 1st. It is unlikely to be visible late in the month as it approaches conjunction with the Sun on the 23rd December. Moon below on the 12th. Saturn is in Leo and 0.8 magnitude, rising by 23h by the 30th. Moon close below on the 4th. Uranus is in Aquarius and stationary on the 24th. It sets about midnight by the 30th but is not readily visible to the naked eye at 5.7 magnitude. Moon nearby on the 19th. Neptune is in Capricornus, setting about 22h but at 7.8 magnitude needs a small telescope or binoculars. Moon nearby on the 17th.

The Moon: last quarter 1d 21h, new 9d 23h, first quarter 17d 23h, full 24d 14h. The full Moon is at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this lunation, so will appear rather larger than average. The Moon passes close below Regulus in Leo on the evening of the 3rd and on the 30th it will rise in the east about 23h close below Regulus.

The Leonids meteor shower reaches maximum activity on the 16th-18th and with the first quarter Moon setting before midnight conditions would be favourable. The Leonids have given very strong showers in recent years but activity has now declined. However, a stronger shower is always possible.

The meteors appear to come from near Regulus, which is below the horizon at the time of the chart but rises in the north east before midnight and moves to the south before dawn. The Taurids, slow and often bright, can be seen in small numbers throughout November radiating from an area below the Pleiades.

Comet C/2007 F1 (LONEOS) was announced too late to be mentioned in the October notes and will have slipped into bright evening twilight by November. It may have reached 3rd magnitude in late October.

The Moon’s position can be predicted to a few metres (desirable for space missions) at any time but every orbit is slightly different. The Moon is at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this lunation, on 24d 00h and the Moon is full on 24d 14h so this month the Moon will look rather larger than usual about full moon. The Moon’s motion is complicated: the Earth’s and Moon’s continually varying distances from the Sun, the inclination of the Moon’s elliptical orbit to that of the Earth’s, and the Earth’s equatorial bulge are significant, but not the only, factors affecting the shape of the Moon’s orbit and distance from the Earth at any one time. The average time between perigees (the anomalistic month) is 27.55 days, while the average lunation from full moon to full moon (the synodic month) is 29.53 days. The difference of two days causes perigee to fall two days earlier on average in successive months. The Moon’s four main phases do not occur at regular intervals over the month, nor are perigee and apogee distances the same every month. The Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus has discussed several possible definitions of the Moon’s average (or mean) and extreme distances from the Earth and gives 385,001, 356,371 and 406,720km as a fair indication.

This November the apparent diameter of the full moon will be nearly 14 per cent greater than at average apogee (its farthest from the Earth) when it appears smallest. The Moon is next at apogee on November 9 but at new phase and not observable. The next full moon at apogee is not until 20 May 2008.