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NOVEMBER EVENING SKY 
Moon 
5th Nov Last Quarter (rises at 
midnight); 12th Nov New Moon 
(heralds end of Ramadhan); 19th 
Nov first Quarter (overhead at 
sunset); 26th Nov Full Moon 
Stars 
The brilliant star Achernar is 
prominent, low in the south. From 
Achernar, fainter stars form a long 
Winding line across the 
southeastern sky. This is the River 
Eridanus, the longest constellation 
in the southern hemisphere. 
The bright star Fomalhaut is high 
above Achernar. East of 
Fomalhaut, almost overhead, is the 
constellation of Cetus, the Whale. 
Cetus contains an interesting 
variable star called Mira, 
In 1596 an amateur astronomer by 
the name of David Fabricius 
noticed that this reddish, medium 
bright star was not visible in the 
October of that year. Much later, 
in 1638, Omicron Ceti - as it was 
then called - was observed to pass 
through a complete cycle of 
changes in brightness, from quite 
bright to very faint. The cycle 
period was found to be 334 days, 
so it can only be seen with the 
naked eye for a few weeks each 
year. 
This phenomenon, unique at the 
time, appeared so remarkable that 
the star received the name of 
“Mira 1 ', which generally means 
"wonderful" or "behold!" in the 
Latin languages, and it is best 
known by that name today. 
Planets 
The small planet Mercury will 
be seen best in mid November, 
in the early evening above the 
sunset. It reaches its greatest 
elongation (highest apparent 
elevation) on Nov 21 st . 
Look for the dazzling sight of 
the bright planets Venus and 
Jupiter in the morning before 
dawn in early November. Venus 
is at perihelion (closest to the 
sun) on November I s ’. A few 
days later, in the early morning 
sky of November 5’\ Venus and 
Jupiter form a spectacular pair 
- they are separated by only 
half a degree. (There are 90 
degrees from the horizon to 
overhead), Venus appears in the 
east lhour and 30minutes 
before the sun rises. 
Mars is just visible in the 
morning twilight. On November 
11 th we may see the moon occult 
Mars in the early morning. That 
is, the moon will pass between 
Mars and the Earth, briefly 
blocking our view of the planet. 
5aturn is not visible in the 
evening. It rises much later, at 
about midnight, and is overhead 
at dawn. 
NATURALIST’S CORNER 
FROGGING 
AT SOUTH KINANGOP 
By Beryl Bwono y, 
On a cold Tuesday in Jul 
members of Kenytf 
Herpetofauna Working Group , 
(KHWG) braved the chilly .> 
weather and visited South 
Kinangop. This visit was in 
response to the persistent -- 
invitations by one of our local 
enthusiastic members in 
Kinangop, Mr. Francis Muigai. 
The team of five volunteers 
from Nairobi arrived at 
Kinamba, South Kinangop at 
around 3:00 p.m and was 
received by Francis and other 
members from the four sub¬ 
branches of Friends of 
Kinangop Plateau. The first day 
was spent going through a basic 
training on amphibian habitat, 
identification techniques, 
collection methods and some 
discussion on the economic 
importance of amphibians. This 
was carried out in the form of 
short lectures, followed by a 
question and answer session. 
After this the group set on a 
walk in search of favourable 
amphibian breeding sites. The 
weather was terribly cold, but 
the spirit of the participants 
made all of it bearable and fun. 
In total three sites were 
visited that night; Kiburu 
(Aberdare Forest), Njambi-ini 
and Kinamba. 
Bird Hotline 
3749957 
(October Sighting) 
Red-throated Wryneck Ondiri 
Swamp, Kikuyu African Golden 
Oriole Nairobi Arboretum/ Sept 
Wed Morning Birdwalks 
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 
Pemba Channel Pat Hemphill 
Saunders Terns Sabaki River 
Mouth Colin Jackson 
African Hill Babblers Nairobi 
Arboretum Chege Kariuki 4 Tim 
Spotted Eagle Owl Nairobi 
Museum grounds Ann Gathitu, 
Chege Kariuki and Anthony 
Gicheha 
Four amphibian species and one 
chameleon Chamaeleo hohnelli 
were seen. The amphibians 
were DeWitte's Mountain River 
Frog Afrana wittei, Ferniquei's 
Reed Frog Hyperolius 
viridiflavus ferniquei, Montane 
Reed Frog H. motanus, and 
Common Clawed Frog Xenopus 
laevis. The following day all 
participants gathered for a two 
hours session of preparation of 
voucher specimens, in which the 
participants were given a 
chance to do the preservation 
themselves. This marked the 
end of our 2 days training trip. 
We wish to return to Kinangop 
soon and water the 
“herpetological seeds" planted 
during this visit when funding 
is available. We noted that 
Kinangop is a good place for 
long-term amphibian 
monitoring; the area has many 
water bodies and some of these 
are quite near homes and 
therefore easy to monitor. It 
could also be a good place to 
determine the effects of agro¬ 
chemicals on amphibian 
populations. 
You too can help protect 
our herpetofauna. How? 
By joining the Kenya 
Herpetofauna Working 
Group (KHWG). 
Please contact the 
Herpetology 
Department, National 
Museums of Kenya, tel 
3742161-4 ext 245 or 
244 email 
cbd@museums.or.ke 
