The pleasant temperatures of the last week or so have made stepping out in the evening a bit of a pleasure compared to our wet, windy October. You would think this would bode well for the normally dependable Leonid shower peak (November 16-17), but bad timing dictates that best days of the shower occur during bright moonlight. So, catching a few nice meteorites this season will be something that happens when you’re out looking at something else.
Speaking of our overly bright satellite, the Full Moon of November 14th will be at its closest and brightest until the one on November 25th, 2034, so, you guessed it: it’s our newest ‘Supermoon’. Well, don’t run out and cash in your life savings, or bundle the family into the basement just yet. It will be a little bigger and brighter, but not enough that you would have noticed had nobody mentioned it. In fact, I’m sorry I did. Again. A few weeks ago I swore I’d ignore all future Supermoon announcements. This time I mean it, at least until 2034.
Clear November nights are much better spent checking out some of the sky’s more interesting objects, and we’ll run through a number of those over the following weeks. However, you have to know where to look, so to get you there, we’ll utilize a set of tools that most people already own... their hands.
Extend your arm in front of you. Make a fist, then stick out your little finger. Your pinkie is one degree across, or two Moon diameters (yes, the Moon’s that small). Put your index, middle and ring fingers together. That’s five degrees, the depth of the Big Dipper’s bowl. Now, make that fist again; ten degrees, the distance across the bowl. Extend your index and pinkie like a set of rabbit ears. That’s fifteen degrees, the length of the handle. Finally, spread out all five fingers. That’s 25 degrees, the diameter of the entire Big Dipper.
Of course, that all depends on the size of your hands (my hand-span is about 22 degrees), but it’s a good general guide. It’s also good to practice this at night in your own back yard where the neighbours can’t see you.
Where this comes in handy is that one day soon I will tell you that the Great Square of Pegasus is 15 degrees on a side, and it will mean something. Similarly, when you tell me that the shooting star you saw travelled 75 degrees, I will be impressed by your scientific knowledge and astronomical prowess. Understanding distance in the sky opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for you as you learn to navigate across the universe from your own back yard.
