The hot months of summer have now given way to cooler temperatures as the end of the year approaches. The sun, however, seems to have no intention of slowing down its activity as in October it produced the largest group of sunspots for the past two decades.
The sunspot complex AR 2192 is a dynamic solar region, many times larger than the size of the Earth. It has created some massive solar flares, although it has now rotated out of view as the sun revolves once around itself in about 26 days.
This period of days varies since the sun is not a solid object but a huge ball of glowing plasma and gases. So different regions rotate at different speeds.
It may well be that owing to the immense size of these sunspots we may see them again when they rotate back into view, sometime around mid-November.
I observed the sunspot without using telescope, just my solar viewing filter, which is rated safe to use to view the sun. It looked like a black spot near the sun’s edge.
No one should look at the sun with the naked eye – not even when the sun is very low above the horizon.
The sun emits harmful amounts of infrared radiation which can literally cook parts of our eyes, especially the retina. This occurs without any feeling of pain since there are no pain receptors in the retina. So be warned!
The evening skies during November will only have one planet visible – Mars. It continues to chase the sun but remaining at nearly the same altitude all month in the constellation Sagittarius. Mars sets around three hours after the sun.
Saturn has now moved ahead and is too close to the sun to be seen this month. It passes around and behind the sun on November 18. On the other hand, Venus will start coming up from behind the sun during the last half of the month, ready to put on a show in the evening sky in December.
Early risers will see Jupiter high up in the sky during the course of the month. To find it, use the last quarter moon as a guide on November 14. On that day and the next, the moon, Jupiter and Regulus will form a triangle in the sky.
Astronomical events during November
| Date | Event |
| Tomorrow | The moon at perigee (closest to the Earth) at 367,879km. |
| Thursday | Full moon at 11.23pm. |
| Saturday | The moon close to the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus. |
| November 14 | The moon close to Jupiter (morning sky). Last quarter moon at 4.16pm. |
| November 15 | The moon close to the bright star Regulus in Leo and at apogee (furthest from the Earth) at 404,336km. |
| November 22 | New moon at 1.32pm. |
| November 26 | The moon close to Mars (evening sky). |
| November 28 | The moon at perigee: 369,800km. |
| November 29 | First quarter moon at 11.06am. |
Alexei Pace is president of the Astronomical Society of Malta.