Happy Thanksgiving - no sidewalk stargazing this weekend

Hi everyone, our sidewalk astronomers are all visiting family (or working or traveling) this first quarter moon weekend, so we won't be setting up telescopes in Pasadena or Monrovia Friday or Saturday night. There is plenty to see if you step outside and look up! I've been exchanging emails with one of our loyal Monrovia/Duarte telescope viewers over the last week. Jack has been looking up, wondering the name of this star or that planet. It's been fun to exchange emails with him. We are so thankful for our Sidewalk Astronomy family, both those with and without telescopes. So, in lieu of telescopes on the sidewalk, and thanks to Jack's questions, here are some pointers to great views you can see tonight, and for the next month. In the evening sky, you can't miss Jupiter alongside (to the left of) bright red Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the bull. Aldebaran is classified a K star -- an orange giant, and is one of the brightest stars in our sky. Look east to see them both, you can't miss Jupiter, and now you know something about that pretty star to the right of Jupiter! Now look above these two. Do you see the Pleiades star cluster? Jack asked me what the bright star an out-stretched hand away from Jupiter is called. To the left of Jupiter, is Capella, the brightest star in Auriga. It's a G stellar classification "yellow" star 10 times the diameter of our G classified Sun! But that's not the star Jack was viewing. He was noticing a brilliant white star rising above the building obscuring his eastern horizon, and to the right of and below Jupiter at about 10 p.m. I stepped out in my jammies at 10 p.m. to see. It was Rigel! The knee of the great constellation Orion was rising above my building obscuring eastern horizon, too. Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the sixth brightest star in the sky! Through binoculars, you may see it's companion. Rigel is a blue-white Class B super-giant 117,000 times as luminous as our sun! Here's a star chart for 9:30 p.m. tonight - and the next month. http://img.whiteoaks.com/jane/Public/Starchart_11_22_930pm_east.jpg Now, if you are up before sunrise tomorrow morning, and have a clear view to the east, you'll see bright Venus, Saturn below, and Mercury, if you can see clear down to the southeast horizon. Here's a star chart for you morning stargazers: http://img.whiteoaks.com/jane/Public/Starchart_11_22_930pm_east.jpg I bet many of you know the little acronym for stellar classification OBAFGKM - or Oh, Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me. If not, here's what those letters and colors mean: http://www.astronomygcse.co.uk/AstroGCSE/New%20Site/Topic%203/o_b_a_f_g_k_m… Our next sidewalk astro weekend will most likely be Dec 21/22, so we may run into the same travel/work/family comes first scenario with our telescope wranglers. If you wander down to our sidewalk corner at Myrtle and Lime streets over the next month, you'll see a whole bunch of new "stars" of many stellar classifications, draped on trees, and everywhere. If we miss next month too, we'll return once those artificial stars are put away for another year, and instead, I'll regale you with a bad poem, a new starchart, and wish you the most happiest winter solstice season. :-) Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA What's Up Podcast for Sept: Observe and wink at the moon On Youtube:http://is.gd/kPUtSx Twitter:http://twitter.com/jhjones /CassiniSaturn /otastro My Blog:http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ Yosemite Videohttp://www.youtube.com/user/yosemitenationalpark?feature=watch