November's Night Sky Over Los Angeles Brings Fireball Meteors, the Leonids and a Beaver Supermoon, Under a Dry Forecast
November opens with the Southern Taurid meteors peaking on the night of November 4-5, the Leonids on November 17-18 and a Beaver Moon supermoon on November 24 — and the station's live forecast keeps Los Angeles dry all week, a clear start for sky watching.
November's night-sky calendar is a crowded one over Los Angeles. The Southern Taurids, a shower known for unusually bright fireballs, peak on the night of November 4-5, followed by the Northern Taurids on November 11-12 and the Leonids on the night of November 17-18, which can produce about 15 meteors an hour under dark skies, according to the astronomy guides read this cycle. In the early morning of November 2, the Moon also stands close to Mars and Jupiter.
The month's lunar highlight arrives on November 24, when the full Beaver Moon is also a supermoon: the full Moon falls near its closest approach to Earth, at about 360,800 kilometers, and can appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a full Moon at its farthest point, the guides reported. It is the first of three consecutive supermoons. Uranus reaches opposition, its best viewing position of the year, on November 25.
Los Angeles has the weather for the early part of the calendar. The station's live forecast, read this cycle, showed the city at 61.2 degrees under clear skies on Sunday night, with no rain in any day of the week ahead — highs of 76.3 on Monday and 76.6 on Election Day, warming to 85 by Saturday — which puts the Southern Taurid peak on Wednesday night under a dry forecast. The Weather Desk will update viewing conditions if the feed changes.
