What to spot in the sky on a cold, mostly clear November night

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky during the Perseid meteor shower in Vinton, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - Kevin Clifford

A ridge of high-pressure over the Maritimes will produce mainly clear, but cold, nighttime conditions both Wednesday and Thursday. Stargazers may wish to take advantage of the reduced cloud cover before cloudier conditions return Friday night.

If heading out remember to bundle up. The next few nights are colder for the Maritimes with the low temperatures headed towards and below freezing.

New Moon and Leonid meteor shower

You won’t spot much of the moon the next few nights. It is a new moon Wednesday night and below the horizon through Thursday night.

The Leonid meteor showers are ongoing but past the predicted peak of Nov. 17.

The Leonids can sometimes produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour. The radiant point, which is point in the sky the meteors appear to appear from, is in the constellation Leo. Leo doesn’t rise above the eastern horizon until near midnight. That makes the early morning hours the best bet for spotting meteors.

The more active Geminid meteor shower occurs in early to mid-December. It is typically a much more active meteor shower than the Leonids and so observers would have improved chances of spotting meteors. The peak of the Geminids is predicted to be late night on Dec. 14.

Planets and comets

Look for the planet Saturn over the southeastern horizon after nightfall. By 8 p.m. the planet will have moved to a position over the southern horizon. If you have a telescope that is an ideal time to look for the comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN). The comet will not be visible to the naked eye.

If you are up and out later in the evening you can watch for the planet Jupiter rise above the eastern horizon. That will happen at 10 p.m. onwards. Jupiter will reach a higher point in the sky above the southeastern horizon by 1 a.m.

If you have binoculars, you can spot the planet Uranus near the constellation Taurus above the eastern horizon near 9 p.m. The planet will be up through the night before setting below the western horizon near sunrise on Thursday.

Aurora and International Space Station

No visible aurora is expected in the Maritimes either Wednesday or Thursday night.

The Space Weather Prediction Center is not expecting any geomagnetic storms for that period. The forecast for the Kp index is low, mostly between one and two for both nights. It typically takes a Kp index of six to eight to make spotting the aurora more likely in our region.

There will be a couple of evening passes of the International Space Station. The first pass will be around 5:51 p.m. Wednesday with the space station rising in the west before disappearing in the northeast. The pass will take about 5 minutes and will be relatively low in the sky.

The second pass on Thursday is quicker. A two-minute pass starting at around 6:41 p.m. with the station appearing in the west and disappearing in the northwest. It is also expected to be low in the sky.

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