Stars over Sisters

November night skies hold much in store for the stargazers of Sisters. Keep an eye out for some spectacular celestial events this month.

Cetus the Sea Monster is our featured constellation. To others this star pattern is known as "The Whale." History documents the fact that this constellation has been depicted in many different ways.

Greek mythology tells of Cetus the Sea Monster being released by Poseidon. The god of the sea became angered by the claims of Queen Cassiopeia. She stated that her daughter Andromeda radiated more beauty than the sea nymphs. In hopes of stopping the coming attack, Andromeda was chained to the shore as a sacrifice. It is the heroic Perseus who rescued her and defeated the sea monster.

Due to the massive size of this constellation, Cetus is completely visible for only a few months. It is situated among the other "water" constellations of Aquarius, Pisces and Eridanus. The famous variable star Mira is found in this constellation. It is the first variable star to be discovered and its brightness fluctuates over a period of about 332 days. Mira can become as bright as the dimmest star in the Big Dipper then fade to tenth magnitude, far too faint to be seen by the naked eye. It is believed that these changes in the star's luminosity are caused by the swelling and shrinking of the star itself. Mira's variability has been observed since 1596.

There are some notable deep-sky objects within this broad constellation. Messier 77 is a barred face-on galaxy that is located at a distance of 47-million light-years. Cetus is also home to planetary nebula known as the Pac-Man Nebula because its appearance reminds some of the Pac-Man computer game. A planetary nebula is a shell of gas expelled by a low-mass dying star. This object is estimated to be 1,600 light-years away.

The Leonid meteor shower will peak on November 17. Normally about 10 to 15 meteors per hour can be seen, but this year a full moon will wash out all the brightest ones.

Venus will continue to hang low in the southwest throughout November. Jupiter is an evening planet now and rises at 9 p.m. by the first of the month. Mars is still a morning object and doesn't rise until about 1:30 a.m.

The moon will be dark as the month opens, becoming new on November 3. From here the moon gradually becomes more illuminated, reaching first quarter on November 9. The full Beaver Moon occurs on November 17 then wanes to third quarter on November 25.

The long-awaited Comet ISON is currently between the orbits of Mars and Earth and will be closest to the Sun on November 28. Shortly after its discovery in September of 2012 some astronomers thought it might become a very bright comet, perhaps as bright as the full moon. But the comet has not brightened as expected, and now scientists believe that ISON won't become the "comet of the century" after all. It still may put on a good show, however, as it rounds the sun. Look for it just before sunrise late in November and early December.