The Stars for November 2008

When you name a star with us you can choose the constellation (area of the night sky) in which your star is located. The following chart shows which Name A Star Live constellations are visible during the first few hours after sunset this month:

Best Time to View the Stars

The best time to view the stars is when there is no moon out: Like the light pollution caused by city lights, moonlight drowns out the faint celestial objects otherwise visible through telescopes. In November 2008, it's best to view the stars during the last two weeks of the month.

Pisces

Pisces is a faint constellation visible almost due south shortly after sunset this month. Because it is so faint, to view this constellation it's best to drive into the countryside so that you observe the constellation south of city lights. (That way, the city lights will be behind you.) If you live in Australia, South Africa, or other parts of the southern hemisphere, Pisces will appear almost due north shortly after sunset.

How Other Cultures Have Viewed the Stars

The stars in we call the constellation "Pisces" (the two fish) were viewed as the fish goddesses Anunitum and Simmah by the ancient Babylonians. The Syrians viewed these stars as representing the goddess Asharte (a.k.a. “Astarte”) – the goddess of love and war. The Greeks and Romans associated these stars with the goddess Venus and her son Cupid – both associated with love. In classical mythology, Venus and Cupid dove into a river and transformed themselves into fish so as to escape the attack of the monster Typhon.

M74, a beautiful spiral galaxy of approximately 100 billion stars in the constellation Pisces. M74 is located about 32 million light-years from Earth. In other words, the light in this photograph took about 32 million years to reach NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which took this photo from its vantage point in Earth orbit.

A German story tells of the wealth-giving power of fish and the consequences of being a greedy person. According to the legend, Antenteh and his wife lived under very poor circumstances by the sea. One day Antenteh was fishing and caught a fish,

but the fish tugged at his line so vehemently that Antenteh let him go. Upon his release the fish began to speak to Antenteh and told him that he was an enchanted prince and in return for his release Antenteh would be granted one wish. But Antenteh would not accept anything. When his wife heard the story she became upset that he let such an opportunity pass. She made Antenteh go back and call for the fish. The fish immediately appeared. Antenteh told the fish of his wife’ s wish for new furniture in their house. So when Antenteh returned to his house he saw not only new furniture, but a brand new house. Antenteh’s wife still wanted more though. She wished to become a queen and live in a palace, and then she wished to be a goddess. The fish became furious with Antenteh’s wife and

took away everything he had given them.

The Chinese saw in these stars a fence that they called Wai-ping, which means “the outer enclosure.” This was a fence that prevented the farmer from falling into the marshes, and prevented the farmer’s pigs from wandering away.

The Planets This Month

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Our Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software shows you all the constellations and planets you can see from your location on any night of the year. We include this fascinating software in our Deluxe, Framed, and Ultimate Gift Sets. Our planisphere constellation finder is a great supplement to Virtual Planetarium™: Consider adding a planisphere to whatever gift set you buy.