Sky this Week
Highlights Nov 25 to Dec. 1
Mars will be at opposition next month on Christmas eve.
International Space Station
No really great passes until Sunday and Monday next week.
Sun
The Sun rises at 6:58 to 7:04 am MST and sets 4:41 to 4:39 pm MST this week. Only one small region 10975 visible today (Sunday Nov 25) located 30 degrees west of center. Solar activity is predicted to remain at very low levels according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.
Moon
The Moon transitions from full yesterday to 3rd quarter phase next Saturday at 5:44 a.m. MST.
Planets
Mercury rises about 40 minutes before sunrise. It is very low near the horizon and difficult to spot in the ESE.Venus is in constellation Virgo and is very, very bright magnitude at -4.1.
Mars rises around 6:30 pm at the end of the week and increases in brightness to magnitude -1.3 and 15.2 arc sec across. It is in good position for viewing around 10 pm. It will increase another 0.6 arc sec in diameter and 0.4 magnitude in brightness.
Jupiter is in constellation Ophiuchus and is very low in the west and sets 5:45 pm (magnitude -1.7).
Saturn rises 11:30 pm by the end of the week in constellation Leo. It is magnitude +1 in brightness.
Uranus is in constellation Aquarius and +5.8 magnitude.
Neptune is in constellation Capricornus and +7.9 magnitude.
Pluto is above Jupiter but for all practical purposes not visible, lost in the bright sky after sunset.
Dark Sky
On Saturday evening the moon rises after midnight (12:23 am Sunday morning) yielding just over 6 hrs of darkness. About as much darkness as we get in the summer on dark sky weekends, though a bit cooler…
Comets
Comet 17P Holmes is getting larger and dimmer. Its now almost 40 arc-min accross. (See SkyHound.com or Seiichi Yoshida’s Comet pages for charts and additional information).