During the month of November, there are some extra special astronomy objects to look out for, starting with the Taurids meteor shower.
The shower can be seen throughout November with peak activity early in the month. The best time to look for these bright streaks is after midnight.
Jupiter and Venus shine as the brightest planets we can see in the night sky and throughout November, they will slowly travel towards each other.
By the 30th they will only be two degrees apart. The sheer brightness of the duo and their close proximity to each other will make for spectacular viewing.
Astronomers often refer to Venus as the nearest thing to hell in our solar system.
It is the hottest planet, with a surface temperature of about 480C – even hotter than Mercury, which is closer to the sun. The cloud cover, made of concentrated sulphuric acid, traps the heat on the surface.
The intense pressure of the atmosphere is 90 times that of Earth, so standing on Venus would feel similar to being 900m deep in an ocean.
Venus spins the opposite way to Earth, so the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, and even stranger still, the planet turns very slowly, taking 243 Earth days to rotate once.
This makes its “day” longer than its “year” (225 Earth days).
Through the constant development of bigger and better telescopes, astronomers are able to see further, with more detail.
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of these groundbreaking instruments. It is in orbit 610km above Earth, operating and sending back fantastic images.
For ground base telescopes, the Gemini’s twin 8m optical/infrared telescopes are located at two of the best sites on our planet for observing the universe. Together these telescopes can access the entire sky.
The Gemini South telescope is in Chile and the Gemini North telescope is in Hawaii.
These locations take advantage of the superb atmospheric conditions and allow extremely clear viewing.
To find out more about the future of space observation, visit the observatory.