The sky guide challenge

Best time to see: 21 November, 23:55 UT Altitude: 57° Location: Taurus Direction: South Features: Colour, subtle atmospheric bands, moons Recommended equipment: 200mm or larger Dim planet Uranus is ex

1. The Hyades The V-shaped Hyades open star cluster is next to mag. +1.0 Aldebaran (Alpha (α) Tauri), the reddish eye of the Bull, a foreground star that’s not actually part of the cluster. At 153 lig

2 Sunday Mag. +0.4 Saturn is 5.7° from this morning’s 82%-lit waxing gibbous Moon. Catch them together before they set at around 01:00 UT. Tuesday 4 Callisto’s shadow transits Jupiter’s disc from 07:0

First up is the mag. +11.9 planetary nebula IC 351, located 2.3° west and 0.8° south of Menkib (Xi (ξ) Persei). Despite its small apparent size – just 8 x 6 arcminutes – it’s visible through a small s

Autumn, winter and spring are the best seasons to stargaze, says Neill Sanders, outreach astronomer at gostargazing.co.uk. “Most stargazing events are organised from the time clocks go back in October

Comet 24P/Schaumasse is a faint comet, but definitely within reach of amateur imagers. It’s really well placed on 7–11 November, passing in front of the Beehive Cluster, M44 (read more on page 47). Bu