2023年11月28日
More Cassiopeids and Mercury at Opposition
The sky has been overcast as of late, but heading into winter, it's not too late to catch even more meteor showers if you're not too cold to crawl out from under the kotatsu and straggle outside.
Although most of the action will be happening below the equator, in the southern hemisphere, on December 2nd the φ-Cassiopeid meteors will fall from -remember the origin point?- Casseiopia, the queen.
It's also a good time to spot Mercury as it reaches opposition. Opposition is when a planet appears to be at the furthest point from the sun in the sky. Since Mercury is lose to he sun and has a short orbit of only 88 days, oppositions shuffle between "sunset peak" and "sunrise peak" This one will be a sunset peak, so it is still visible above the horizon after the sun has set.
Although most of the action will be happening below the equator, in the southern hemisphere, on December 2nd the φ-Cassiopeid meteors will fall from -remember the origin point?- Casseiopia, the queen.
It's also a good time to spot Mercury as it reaches opposition. Opposition is when a planet appears to be at the furthest point from the sun in the sky. Since Mercury is lose to he sun and has a short orbit of only 88 days, oppositions shuffle between "sunset peak" and "sunrise peak" This one will be a sunset peak, so it is still visible above the horizon after the sun has set.
