Saturn and Jupiter in the Sky this Week

You could see a couple of planets in the evening sky during the coming days, and it will be easier to spot them with the moon passing very nearby.

Jupiter and Saturn can be seen shortly after dusk October 31, November 1 and the 2. Look in the southwest sky right around dusk and you could pick out these planets. The moon will be just to the top left of the planet Jupiter on the 31. On November 1, the planet Saturn will be to the top left of the moon in the evening sky. Then on November 2, Saturn can be seen just to the right of the moon.

When looking for the planets, you’ll want to look for what appears to be the brightest star in the sky. However the planets won’t “twinkle” light stars do. This is because stars are emitting light, whereas planets are just reflecting or refracting light. You’ll also want to get as far away from city lights as possible for best viewing.

This all comes at a time before we get into a fairly active meteor shower pattern. We will see two meteor showers in November and one in December. The Northern Taurids meteor shower peaks November 11 and 12. The Leonids Meteor shower will peak the nights of November 16 and 17, and the Geminids meteor showers peak mid-December, the night of December 13. There’s also the Mercury transit on November 11^th, in which the planet Mercury passes between the earth and the sun.