Dave’s Nature Almanac: November
Nature Almanac: Monthly Menu
Dark November Skies
November’s sky lacks many bright stars, especially to the south. This is because we are looking out of the plane of our galaxy. Imagine if the Milky Way were a Frisbee and we were an ant crawling on it. Looking around us, we’d perceive the Frisbee as a line extending horizon-like on all sides, but looking up we’d see open air. As I wrote in the September almanac, the glowing band we call the Milky Way is actually that horizon-like view of the Frisbee, where the stars are so densely packed they appear as a glow. But every star you see is actually part of the Milky Way. In November, we are facing away from the plane of the galaxy and looking out, toward intergalactic space. The disk of the Milky Way is thinnest here, so there appear to be fewer stars.
That doesn’t mean November’s sky is boring! It’s an awesome time to look for the Milky Way’s nearest huge neighboring companion, the Andromeda Galaxy (pictured). You can find the galaxy yourself with a pair of binoculars, or even with the naked eye under dark skies (at a distance of 2.5 million light years, it’s the most distant thing you can see without optics). Here’s a finder map on the EarthSky website.
It looks like a faint gray smoky streak - not very impressive. But think about what you are seeing: a vast city of perhaps a trillion stars. Are other eyes looking back at you across that mind-numbing distance? It is even larger their our own galaxy….and it’s on a collision course! In a little over 4 billion years, the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy will pass through one another, and eventually merge into a ginormous spherical galaxy.
PS - In the photo, you can see two small satellite galaxies of the huge spiral. One is a blurry oval to the right of the nucleus, the other a round dot just on the edge of the galaxy to the left. The Milky Way also has small satellite galaxies: the two most famous are the Clouds of Magellan, visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
Have you ever noticed a cold bird or mammal "fluffing up" to keep warm? Fluffing fur or feathers creates an insulating layer of dead air space between the animal's warm skin and the cold outside air. Tiny muscles attached to the base of each feather or hair tug it into an upright position.
Some animals also make nests of fluffy material for the same reason: curling up in a dense ball of dead grass, leaves or scavenged fur provides insulation.
Other animals prefer the natural fluffiness of snow to stay warm. Dead air spaces between individual ice crystals in the snow pack provide excellent insulation. Ptarmigans, grouse-like birds of the high mountains, actually burrow into the snow for warmth. Mice and pocket gophers tunnel under the snow during the winter, keeping warm and hiding from predators in this "subnivean" world.
Animals may also fluff their fur or feathers when they are frightened, trying to intimidate a potential attacker by looking bigger and fiercer. You may have seen a dog lift its hackles or a cat puff up its tail to warn away intruders.
Can humans fluff? Of course! But we call it getting the goose bumps. When we are cold or afraid, our body tries to make our hair stand up -- just like a fluffed squirrel or chickadee -- but our species has lost most of its thick fur. All that remains are the tell-tale bumps at the base of each hair follicle where tiny muscles still struggle in vain to raise our hackles or puff up a thick layer of insulation.
Box Elder bugs are harmless. The often swarm in fall.
Box Elder bugs are a common swarming insect in fall. These small, pointy little red and black insects are truly “bugs” (Order Hemiptera). Box Elder Bugs may congregate around your home on sunny walls or woodpiles, trying to warm up. Some may manage to infiltrate your house! Don’t be alarmed; they are quite harmless and do not bite, sting or carry disease. Gently help them find their way back outside
Box elder bugs congregate around box elder and maple trees. In spring, the bugs emerge from their winter hiding places and lay eggs that hatch into tiny bright red nymphs (juvenile insects). Although the bugs feed on maple trees, they do very little damage and are not serious pests. Their bright red and black coloring advertises their bad taste: most animals won't eat them!