Yesterday evening at sunset, the sky was spectacular view at my location. [Observed 1700-1800 EST/2200-2300 UT. Sunset 1659 EST/2159 UT. First Quarter Moon 11-Nov-2021 1246 UT. The star Nunki about 41 arcminute angular separation from the Moon when I viewed. Earthshine lovely and 10x50 binoculars view excellent, same for the telescope at 71x. Hercules crater area visible with the star in same FOV, terminator line, and earthshine. Venus is putting on the show with crescent phase and very bright
Venus 43 % disk illuminated and close to 29 arcsecond angular size. Jupiter, Saturn, waxing crescent Moon, and Venus were quite a show and view tonight after sunset along the ecliptic. Observing Jupiter, Europa ended a transit at 2236 UT/1736 EST. At 71x, I could see Europa close to Jupiter’s limb appear. I noticed this near 1741 EST/2241 UT. Jupiter showed many cloud bands in the telescope view. Observing Saturn at 71x, Titan and HIP101922 star distinct near Saturn’s position. Rings visible, hint of Cassini division, and tiny portion of Saturn’s shadow on the rings visible. Shortly after sunset tonight, the sky show was lovely along the ecliptic. Stellarium and Starry Night provided sky chart details. Clear skies, temperature 13C, winds NW/6 knots. Tonight, I viewed 4 moons at Jupiter and Titan at Saturn. Our Moon makes 6 moons observed tonight]
Later I enjoyed some binocular and telescope views tracking Ceres moving in Taurus in the Hyades.
[Observed 2000-2100 EST/0100-0200 UT. I was able to track down and view asteroid Ceres this evening using 10x50 binoculars and 90-mm refractor telescope using TeleVue 40-mm plossl. 25x views with true FOV about 1.8-degrees. Starry Night sky position for Ceres is accurate, HIP21029 and HIP21257 easily framed the asteroid tonight at 25x. I could see the three with Aldebaran in low power, 25x and 1.8-degree true FOV. This was a fun target to observe this evening on a very clear night. Ceres opposition on 27-Nov-2021 and currently moving retrograde in Taurus and the Hyades. S&T reports the asteroid will be about 7th magnitude on 27-Nov.
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