Weekend viewing

The Weather Channel indicates that this weekend's forecast is extremely favorable for nighttime viewing of the sky. While the waxing gibbous moon will make the sky rather bright, you can still find some things if you look up.

Jupiter shines bright in the east just after sunset and is visible all night. Even a modest pair of binoculars can reveal 3-4 points of light around it - the Galilean moons. Galileo was the first to observe these 4 large moons of Jupiter and the fact that they orbit Jupiter, not Earth, was one of the first major pieces of observational evidence supporting the heliocentric, or Sun-centered, model of the Solar System. Turn your binoculars to them and over the course of just an hour you can see them change position with respect to one another.

While you have your binoculars out, check out the nearby Pleiades star cluster. This group of stars, located in the constellation of Taurus, rises around 7:30 p.m. and is visible all night. It looks like a miniature Dipper and can be seen near the center of the image below:

This star cluster is littered with young stars, which appear blue because they are quite massive and therefore quite hot - much hotter than the Sun. 7 are visible to the unaided eye, but through binoculars or a small telescope the cluster really comes to life. Check it out!

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the occasional meteor. The November Leonid meteor shower is approaching in a couple weeks, so spotting one or two random meteors while you are outside this weekend can help build the anticipation for this upcoming meteor shower, which typically puts on a great show.