Go Take A Look At The Moon Now!

If you stay up until mid-evening on November 7 – or get up before sunrise on November 8 – you can catch the dazzling planet Jupiter at a turning point in the year. Jupiter is said to appear stationary in front of the constellation Gemini the Twins, beginning on November 7, as it begins its retrograde motion in front of the stars. In astronomy, the start of retrograde motion of an outer planet like Jupiter always means the planet is soon to be at its best in our sky, in this case in early 2014. It happens when that planet seems to stop and then change its normal eastward direction of motion in front of the background stars.

But that’s not all you can look for tonight. Before Jupiter rises in the east on the evening of November 7, look first for the waxing crescent moon and the super brilliant planet Venus in the southwest sky at dusk and early evening. Can you believe Venus looks so bright? In fact, it’ll get brighter still before reaching its greatest brilliancy in early December.
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