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moon-drenched sky. Meanwhile, that brilliant point of light to the east of the moon tonight is the giant planet Jupiter. Look here for more about the moon and Jupiter. Plus, have you seen the planets before dawn? Saturn and Venus appear(ed) closest together in the east before dawn on the morning of November 26. Mercury is now creeping out of the dawn, and Mercury will join the planets in the predawn sky next week.
• As you can probably tell, this is an awesome time to view the planets. What with Jupiter nearly at its best (Earth will pass between Jupiter and the sun next week), and three planets coming together in the eastern, predawn sky … who could ask for more?
• But there's always more. The moon will undergo a subtle kind of eclipse tomorrow night (the night of November 27-28, 2012). As seen from in North America, this subtle penumbral eclipse of the moon comes before sunrise November 28. In the world's Eastern Hemisphere - Europe, Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand - the penumbral lunar eclipse will take place after sunset November 28. The moon will turn full on November 28, of course. You need a full moon to have a lunar eclipse.
• This November 2012 full moon, by the way, will be the smallest and most distant full moon of the year. Seven full moons ago - on May 6, 2012 - it was the closest and largest full moon of 2012. Some people called it a supermoon. The November 2012 full moon will reside about 50,000 kilometers (30,000 miles) farther away than (Continued on page 13)
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