SKYWATCHER'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 19, 1991

   Hello. This is the Smithsonian SkyWatcher's Report for the week
beginning November 19, 1991, from the Albert Einstein Planetarium at
the National Air and Space Museum.

   The Full Beaver Moon occurs on the 21st at 5:56 PM Eastern
Standard Time with Luna riding high in the sky not far from the
beautiful Pleiades star Cluster.  This Full Moon gets its name from
ancient Native American lore, as it was noticed that these
industrious rodents reach a fever pitch of activity at this time of
the year in preparation for the onset of Winter.  It is also known as
the Frosty Moon for more obvious reasons.  Over the next several
evenings watch the Moon course her way through the stars of the Great
Winter Circle.

   Mercury reaches his greatest elongation east of the Sun on the
19th, but due to the inclination of the ecliptic in the southwest sky
this is his worst evening apparition for the whole year.  Although he
is over 22 degrees from the disk of old Sol, he is only about 5
degrees above the horizon at sunset, making him extraordinarily
difficult to spot.  For a better look at this fleetest of planets,
wait a month until he's in the morning sky.  He'll be a much easier
target before sunrise during the Holiday season.

   Saturn still lingers in the evening sky, but makes a hasty exit
not long after darkness falls.  The best time to see him is during
the deep twilight starting about half an hour after sunset.  He will
be the brightest object in the southwestern sky, and you can still
use Vega and Altair, brightest stars in the Summer Triangle, to find
him.  The triangle hangs high in the west as darkness falls, and a
line from Vega through Altair points right at the ringed planet.  The
small telescope will easily show Saturn's beautiful rings, but the
glow of twilight may impair your views of his many moons.

   Rounding out the planet parade are Jupiter and Venus, both of
which may be found gracing the morning skies.  Old Jove rises just
after midnight by the end of the week, not far from the star Regulus,
heart of Leo, the Lion.  The giant planet is slowly working his way
into the evening sky, and a month from now he will be a fixture in
the eastern sky when St. Nicholas makes his house calls.  Recently a
picture of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope was released
by NASA, and the details visible on the turbulent face of the planet
are quite breathtaking.  Not since the Voyager probes have we had
such a close-up look at old Jove, and the views will only get better
as Hubble's instruments are refined.

   Venus is up just before the Sun, a dazzling beacon in the eastern
sky.  She is slowly catching up to the Sun, but it won't be until
well into next year that she begins to lose some of her prominence.  

   Late last week a strange little world was discovered by an
automated telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. 
Dubbed 1991 VG, the object will pass within 300,000 miles of the
earth on December 5th.  While earth-grazing asteroids are not that
uncommon, this one is particularly interesting on several accounts. 
First of all its orbit is nearly the same as the Earth's, so that
about once every 15 to 20 years it has a close encounter with us.
Second, whatever it is, it is extremely small on the solar system
scale.  It is intrinsically very faint, so at most it can only be a
few dozen meters across.  And it may not be a natural object at all. 
Over the course of the last thirty years we have sent out dozens of
interplanetary spacecraft and their booster stages into solar orbit,
and at least five Saturn 5 upper stages were sent off to orbital
oblivion during the Apollo program about 20 years ago.  We may just
be seeing a return visit by some of the hardware that got us to the
Moon.

   So, until next week, keep an eye on the sky, and thank you for
calling the Smithsonian.