Mercury and Venus shine brightly in the morning sky, Mars meets Jupiter near the heart of the lion, Uranus is at its best, and Saturn continues to dazzle in the evening. November skywatchers can also see a beautiful close pairing of the waning crescent Moon and Venus near Spica, fireballs from a comet, and the full Beaver Moon.
The Sun
The Sun spends time in three separate constellations during the month of November. Starting in Libra, which it joined in late October, it crosses into Scorpius on the 23rd, where it will reside for just eight and a half days, by far the shortest length of time it spends completely within any constellation. When it departs Scorpius on the last day of the month, it enters the non-zodiacal constellation Ophiuchus, where it will remain until December 18.
The annual switch back to standard time (UTC – 0500) is at 2:00am EDT on the 1st.
The equation of time reaches a maximum offset of 16 minutes, 27 seconds on the 3rd.
November 10 is our last day with ten hours of daylight until the end of January .
The equation of time is 0 on the 25th, after which the Sun begins to “fall behind.”
The Moon
The Moon is last quarter on the 1st, at 3:28pm in Cancer.
The waning crescent Moon is 1.8° west-southwest of Mars on the 2nd, with Jupiter 6.5° to the east. The following morning, the Moon is 4.8° east-southest of Jupiter and 0.7° south of Regulus, in Leo.
A beautiful triple conjunction awaits on the morning of the 7th, when the 3.3% crescent Moon, Venus, and Spica are within 2.8°. The Moon and Venus will be just 1.7° apart, and a telescopic view of the pair will reveal a stunning pair of crescents, with the Moon’s ethereal Earthlit globe stealing the show.
The following morning, on the 8th, has the 0.8% Moon joining Mercury, which is also a tiny crescent, 5.7° to the north-northeast. The Moon appears much deeper in twilight, so its Earthshine isn’t quite as prominent, and Mercury’s larger separation from the Moon makes this a better sight for binoculars. Mercury’s 9.5 arcsecond crescent can be seen with a telescope.
New Moon is at 2:02am on the 9th, beginning Lunation 1285.
We usually associate the teapot asterism of Sagittarius with the warmer nights of summer, but it does remain in our sky through November, tipping forward as if pouring the Milky Way onto the southwestern horizon. On the 13th, the 18.7% waxing crescent Moon helps “lift” its handle, appearing just 0.5° from Nunki (sigma Sagittarii), a binary system of hot class B main sequence stars that lie 225 light years away.
The Moon is first quarter, in Capricorinus, at 6:46am on the 17th.
November’s full Moon, traditionally called the Beaver Moon, is on the 24th. With the exact time being 9:53am, the mid-morning occurrence lets us enjoy the full phase across two consecutive nights, beginning with moonrise at 5:15pm on the 23rd, over an hour before sunset. Moongazers will quickly note, as the Moon approaches the meridian at 11:01pm, that it is close to the highest in the sky as any full Moon of the year. At over 71° elevation from our latitude, it is just 4° shy of the most northerly full Moon in December.
Before dawn on the morning of the 24th, the Moon is just 1.7° from the Pleiades cluster in Taurus. An occultation does occur, but it is during daylight, and when the Moon and the cluster are below the horizon. Moonset is at 6:59am, 13 minutes after sunrise, and less than three hours before full Moon.
The following evening, moonrise is 18 minutes before sunset at 4:00pm, lunar transit at 12:04am at an elevation of 74.7°, and moonset is at 8:15am.
The waxing gibbous Moon enters the Winter Hexagon on the 24th, and on the following evening, just past moonrise, the 27th brightest star in the sky, magnitude 1.65 Elnath (beta Tauri) can be seen hovering just 1.4° north-northwest of the Moon. On the 27th, the Moon is 2.3° south-southeast of dwarf planet Ceres just after moonrise, and it is aligned with Castor and Pollux in Gemini just after midnight on the 28th.
The Planets
Mercury
Following a lackluster display in the evening sky, Mercury passes inferior conjunction on the 4th, and returns to the morning sky for a more favorable performance.
Look for the 0.8% waning crescent Moon 4.8° south-southwest of Mercury just before sunrise on the 8th.
Throughout the month, Mercury shares the predawn sky with its outer neighbor Venus, and the two planets appear closest on the 13th, at a separation of 12.7°.
For nine days beginning on the 16th, Mercury rises before the onset of astronomical twilight, with the earliest rising of the innermost planet at 4:56am on the 18th, when it is visible in the east-southeastern sky for 103 minutes before sunrise.
Mercury shows a waning crescent until the 18th, when it is 50% illuminated, and displays its gibbous phase thereafter.
Mercury is at greatest elongation on the 20th, 19.6° west of the Sun, and a distance from Earth of 1.0 au.
Venus
November is a great time to observe Venus in the morning sky. From the outset, the brilliant planet rises about an hour before sunrise, and it spends the month within Virgo, drawing a loop around the bright star Spica, which is easy to track each morning. Its closest position with respect to the brightest star in Virgo is 1.1° to its west on the 9th.
Venus rises before the onset of astronomical twilight on the 7th, and will continue to rise during astronomical dark through March 12.
Also on the 7th, don’t miss a spectacular triple conjunction of the waning crescent Moon, Venus, and Spica, all within 2.8°, within the same field of view of a small, rich-field telescope, as well as a fine sight with binoculars.
Users of any telescope will be treated to a beautiful crescent phase when looking at Venus, especially early in the month when the planet remains close to one arcminute in size, and the illuminated position is less than 15%.
Venus is at maximum brilliance on the 24th, when the “Morning Star” shines at magnitude -4.9, the brightest any of our planets will ever appear in our sky. This is nine times brighter than our next-brightest planet Jupiter gets at opposition (Mars occasionally gets just slightly brighter, but only for a few days every several decades), and 24 times as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in our nighttime sky.
Mars
Mars and Jupiter spend the month of November together in western Leo. At the beginning of the month, Mars, Jupiter, and Regulus form a line equidistant from each other.
The waning crescent Moon rises just before Mars on the 1st, and comes to within 1.6° southwest of the planet before dawn on the 2nd.
While the inner planets Mercury and Venus exhibit a full set of illuminated phases during their synodic cycles, the other planets also show phases, but only a limited range: they appear full near opposition, and some extent of gibbous near points of quadrature, when the elongation angle between Earth and the Sun as seen from the planet is at its greatest.
Mars reaches its minimum illumination on the 10th, when the Red Planet’s 7 arcsecond globe shows us an 89.4% gibbous, which should be easily discernible in a small telescope with a modest amount of magnification (50-75x). Mars’s 89.4% gibbous is the equivalent phase of the Moon when it is three days past full.
Mars overtakes Jupiter on the 15th-16th, when the planetary pair is separated by only 1.2°, just 4.2° west-northwest of Regulus. The three objects remain within the same binocular field of view for the remainder of the month, forming an ever-changing geometry altering the front of the lion.
Mars is at quadrature, 90° west of the Sun, on the 19th. Rising just before midnight and crossing the meridian around sunrise, this marks the start of the best season for observing the Red Planet. Opposition is three months away,
Mars is closest to Regulus on the 26th, 1.7° to its north-northeast, and the waning gibbous Moon joins the trio of Mars, Jupiter, and Regulus on the 29th-30th.
Jupiter
Jupiter becomes an evening planet, rising before midnight during November. Together with Mars, Jupiter is moving eastward in Leo, and the two planets are closest on the 16th, when they are separated by just 1.2°. Jupiter moves eastward towards Regulus at about six arcminutes per day.
On the 2nd, Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are arranged in order of orbital distance to the east of the planet.
The waning crescent Moon passes the giant planet on the 2nd and 3rd.
At 1:55am on the 8th, look for a very tight arrangement of Europa, Callisto, and Io to the east of the planet, with Callisto a bit farther away. Europa is emerging from behind Jupiter while Callisto is about to transit. The positions of the moons should be easy to see moving in near-real-time. Less than an hour later, Io begins transiting, and passes Callisto at 3:16am.
Just past midnight on the 14th, the Galilean moons are arranged in order of orbital distance, but the western side of Jupiter.
A close pairing of Io and Europa just off of Jupiter’s western limb can be seen at 4:30am on the 15th.
Jupiter is at quadrature on the 18th, when it crosses the meridian before sunrise.
Jupiter’s moons again appear in order of orbital distance, extended to the west of the planet, on the 28th.
The waning gibbous Moon is 1.0° south-southwest of Jupiter on the 30th, with Regulus and Mars also within the same binocular field of view.
Jupiter’s four large Galilean satellites continue to undergo mutual eclipses and occultations, aside from their regular eclipses, occultations, and transits with the planet itself.
Saturn
Saturn is in Cetus, well-placed for early evening skywatchers.
Observers using a small telescope can watch its largest moon Titan revolve around the ringed planet about once every 16 days. The giant moon appears just over Saturn’s north pole (on the near side) on the 8th-9th, and just beneath the planet’s south pole (far side) on the 16th-17th.
The waxing gibbous Moon is 12.0° due west of Saturn on the 19th, and 5.7° due north on the 20th.
Saturn sets before 2:00am at the end of November.
Uranus
Uranus is positioned for best viewing in November, reaching opposition on the 26th at a distance of 18.444 au. Its location in Taurus, well north of the celestial equator, places it high in our sky for most of the night, which minimizes the amount of atmospheric turbulence and distortion we’re looking through. This allows us to use a respectable amount of magnification in just about any size telescope to discern its teal-tinted 3.8 arcsecond globe.
At magnitude 5.6, the seventh planet is quite easy to locate about midway between Aldebaran and the Pleiades cluster. Look for the pair of stars 37 and 39 Tauri, magnitudes 4.4 and 5.9, respectively, separated by ten arcminutes, with the brighter one nearer to the Pleiades.
A few weeks ago, Uranus was directly in line with these two stars, towards Aldebaran, but the planet is moving west-southwestward at about three arcminutes per day, so you’ll need to aim towards Prima Hyadum (gamma Tauri), the westernmost star of the Hyades, and the vertex of the “V” asterism that defines the prominent shape of the cluster. Uranus will be just 1.5° southeast of 39 Tauri on the 1st.
With Earth at its closest point to Uranus, this month is the best time to observe some of its larger moons. The tilted axis of the Uranian system is a great help to us at this time, as the planet’s north pole is pointed in our direction, and therefore the orbits of the moons are viewed nearly face-on, keeping them roughly equidistant from the planet along their entire path around Uranus.
Titania and Oberon, at magnitudes 13.8 and 14.0, respectively, are the largest and brightest of Uranus’s 29 known satellites A 10-inch telescope should be able to resolve both moons on a night with favorable transparency and seeing. Many of today’s smart telescopes should also be capable of resolving them.
Titania, which is 1,578 kilometers, or 45.4% the diameter of our Moon, orbits Uranus once every 8.7 days at a distance of 436,000 kilometers, which places it about 32 arcseconds from the planet from our perspective.
Oberon, at 1,522 kilometers (43.8% the diameter of our Moon), orbits Uranus in just under two weeks, at a distance of 584,000 kilometers, giving it an apparent separation of 42 arcseconds from Uranus.
Observers with more advanced equipment may want to try for the third- and fourth-largest moons of Uranus: Umbriel and Ariel.
Umbriel, 33.6% the size of our Moon, at magnitude 14.8, is separated from the planet by 19 arcseconds. It orbits every 4.1 days.
Ariel is slightly brighter, at magnitude 14.2, and orbits Uranus every 2.5 days at a distance of about 14 arcseconds. Uranus’s fourth-largest moon is ⅓ the size of our Moon.
Miranda, just 13.6% the size of our Moon, orbits Uranus once every 1.4 days at an apparent separation angle of 9 arcseconds. At magnitude 16.8, it presents a worthwhile challenge for observers with large telescopes having a long focal ratio.
Neptune
Located in Pisces just 7° west of Saturn, Neptune is high in the south-southeast during the early evening hours.
To locate Neptune, imagine an equilateral triangle, with Saturn, magnitude 4.0 omega Piscium, and a “missing” point to the southwest. With binoculars, you’ll see a quadrilateral of 5th and 6th magnitude stars near where the missing vertex should be. These four stars are, clockwise from the north, 29, 27, 30 and 33 Piscium, with two parallel lines of stars separated by 0.9°, approximately 2.6° in length, and the long dimension oriented roughly north-northwest to south-southeast. With the easternmost pair, 33 and 29, complete a chevron to the north and slightly east, towards Saturn. Neptune is a magnitude 7.8 pale blue almost-starlike object. The magnitude 6.3 star HD 6 will be just over 0.5° to the west-northwest.
Minor Planets
Brightening through 8th magnitude and located just a few degrees from Pollux, our closest dwarf planet Ceres is easy to observe with binoculars in November.
On the 13th and 14th, Ceres passes 0.4° northeast of kappa Geminorum.
Ceres continues to brighten throughout the month, as the distance to the 940 kilometer largest object in the asteroid belt closes to within 2.0 au on the 16th.
Ceres begins moving retrograde during the third week of November, when it is about 3.0° south of Pollux. While we typically refer to this as the “stationary” point, the inclined orbit of Ceres causes it to continue in motion northward, then to the northeast, as it begins its retrograde loop.
Ceres passes 0.1° east of the magnitude 5.3 star 76 Geminorum on the 26th and 27th.
Pluto is in southwestern Capricornus, and is already west of the meridian after dusk. It will be getting more difficult to observe its distant 14.5 magnitude glow later in November.
Pluto is about midway between psi Capricorni and the globular cluster Messier 75, and 1.1° north of the magnitude 11.3 spiral galaxy NGC 6907.
Vesta, which was at opposition last month, is still a relatively bright 7th magnitude object in Cetus, a few degrees southeast of Saturn.
Start by locating 25 Ceti, a 5.4 magnitude star that is 5.5° north-northwest of eta Ceti, and 0.0° northeast of Diphda (alpha Ceti). At the beginning of November, Vesta is 2.5° to the east, moving westward at 11 arcminutes per day. Vesta slows and arcs northward as it approaches its stationary point at the end of the month, passing within 0.5° north of 25 Ceti on the 15th-16th.
Move a bit farther south to find Pallas, which is moving southwestward in Cetus, a few degrees southeast of Diphda.
At the end of the month, Pallas comes to within 2.5° of Caldwell 62 (NGC 247), a magnitude 8.9 dwarf spiral galaxy that is 11 million light years away.
Meteors
A trio of meteor showers reach peak activity during November, starting with the Southern and Northern Taurids. These low-rate showers are comprised of debris left by comet 2P/Encke and are known to produce fireballs. The Southern Taurids peak on November 4th-5th, and appear to originate from a point about 15° west of Aldebaran. The Northern Taurids, peaking on the 11th-12th, appear to originate from an area near the Pleiades. Both peak times coincide with crescent phases of the Moon, and although observers may not expect to see more than five meteors per hour, the pair of showers have activity periods that span for many days before and after their respective peaks.
The Leonids are perhaps most famously known for its storm-level outbursts every 33 years; however our last one was in 2001, and we’re still several years out from the next one. Coinciding with a first quarter Moon during the 17th-18th night of peak activity, observers may expect to see 10-15 swift-moving remnants of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle per hour.
Stars & Beyond
As we move deeper into autumn, darkness sets in by 6:00pm, providing many hours of evening observing without an unwelcome sacrifice of sleep. The cool, still nights draw attention to the last of the season’s nocturnal insects chirping out their final calls, as the scent of fallen leaves surrounds us. The hoot of a distant owl or the sound of a tiny critter scurrying through the leaves reminds us that even in the colder months we may still enjoy signs of life in the wilderness around us.
The Big Dipper reaches its lower culmination in the north, its stars winking behind the trees that will soon be naked of their leaves. When the Dipper’s pointer stars are directly below Polaris, follow the line all the way up and over, and you will notice it passes through the western edge of the Great Square of Pegasus, and continues low in the south to Fomalhaut. All of these landmarks approximately mark the 23-hour line, one of the most well-defined lines of right ascension in the sky.
Arcturus, the bottom of the celestial “ice cream cone” (ask Francine to show it to you next spring) leaves our evening sky in November.
The northerly declination of the Blaze Star, T Coronae Borealis, makes it so that there is no time that it is not visible to us at our mid-northern latitude, but there is a time when its visibility is at a minimum. That time is in November, when it is visible briefly after evening twilight, and again for a brief time before morning twilight. Through much of November, it is still best viewed in the evening, but once the Sun passes the same right ascension of 16 hours 0 minutes, it will be best seen in the morning. We are hoping that it doesn’t go into outburst during the period of minimum visibility.
The center of the Milky Way sits on the southwestern horizon, but the Summer Triangle and its treasure-trove of deep sky destinations remains ready for exploration for a little while longer.
With the Northern Milky Way hovering near the zenith, early evenings are a great time to gaze upon the star clusters and nebulae of Cygnus, Cepheus, Lacerta, and Cassiopeia. But for this month’s cosmic adventure, we’ll take a journey out beyond the Milky Way’s south pole to a relatively close-by spiral galaxy that is easy to see, yet often overlooked.
Carrying the Caldwell index of 65, NGC 253 is commonly known as the Sculptor Galaxy for its being the most prominent object within the constellation of Sculptor. Bearing no stars brighter than magnitude 4.3, it is easy to pass over this diminutive southern constellation that occupies 7 degrees of declination and 2 ⅔ hours of right ascension to the east of Fomalhaut, the “lonely” first magnitude star that anchors the southern fish, Piscis Austrinus.
Caldwell 65 is the most conspicuous galaxy visible from mid-northern latitudes that is not a member of the Messier catalog. The galaxy is nearly edge-on, extends 30 arcminutes, and has a relatively high surface brightness with a combined magnitude of 7.1.
Caldwell 65 transits the meridian just four minutes behind Diphda (beta Ceti), and lies 7.3° to the south. The presence of the magnitude 2.0 star is not only a good indicator of the visibility of this splendid spiral, but can also be used as a handy guide to locate it with a telescope, especially an equatorially-mounted instrument.
The galaxy will dimly appear in a 50mm finder even under moderately light-polluted but transparent skies, and will show an obvious elongation through a small telescope. A 6- to 8-inch telescope with medium magnification will begin to show some mottled texture from the galaxy’s dense dust clouds, but one feature C65 lacks that is common to many other large spiral galaxies is an obvious brightening of its nucleus, as it appears nearly uniform in brightness from its core all the way out to its edges.
Caldwell 65 is a starburst galaxy, as indicated by its abundant and thick dust clouds. It is similar in size to the Milky Way, and lies at a distance of 11.6 million light years.
While exploring the area of sky containing Caldwell 65, you may stumble upon another fairly bright object just 1.6° to its southeast that doesn’t look quite like a galaxy. This is a member of our own Milky Way, the globular cluster NGC 288. A fairly large and bright cluster, it shines at magnitude 8.1, and is a Class X on the Shapley–Sawyer scale of globular cluster concentrations, meaning that its core is very loosely concentrated, similar to the Messier globulars M56, M68, and M107.
Paired with C65, NGC 288 makes for a fine sight in a wide-field telescope under dark skies.
