Oct 22, 2026 ·
Welcome to the November Night Sky
November is one of the friendliest months of the year to start stargazing. In the Northern Hemisphere the nights grow long and the Sun sets early, so you can be under a properly dark sky by dinnertime instead of staying up until midnight. The air is often crisp and clear, and winter’s brightest constellations are beginning to climb into view.
This month offers a lovely mix of things to see: a new Moon that gives you the darkest skies of the month, two meteor showers, a gathering of bright planets in the pre-dawn sky, a ringed planet that is easy to find in the evening, and a “supermoon” at the end of the month. Almost all of it can be enjoyed with your own eyes. Binoculars make it more fun, but they are optional.
One quick note before we begin. Directions and timings here are written for mid-northern latitudes, such as the United States, Europe and much of Asia. Moon and meteor times are given in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), so convert them to your local time zone. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, the same events happen, but constellations appear flipped upside down compared with the northern view.
November at a Glance
Dates are approximate for mid-northern latitudes, and times are UTC where given.
| Date | What’s happening | Best time to look |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 1 | Last quarter Moon | Late night to morning |
| Nov 2–3 | Moon passes near Jupiter and Mars | Before dawn, low in the east |
| Nov 4–5 | Southern Taurid meteors peak | After dark, any clear night |
| Nov 7 | Thin crescent Moon near Venus and the star Spica | Just before sunrise |
| Nov 9 | New Moon (about 07:02 UTC) | Darkest skies Nov 6–12 |
| Nov 11–12 | Northern Taurid meteors peak | Evening and night |
| Nov 15–16 | Mars passes close to Jupiter | Before dawn |
| Nov 17 | First quarter Moon | Evening |
| Nov 17–18 | Leonid meteor shower peaks | After midnight to dawn |
| Nov 20 | Mercury at its best for the month | Just before sunrise |
| Nov 22 | Mars, Jupiter and Regulus form a tight triangle | Before dawn |
| Nov 24 | Full Beaver Moon, a supermoon | All night |
| Nov 25 | Uranus at opposition | All night, with binoculars |
Before You Head Out: Simple Tips for Beginners
Good stargazing is less about equipment and more about a few easy habits. These small things make a big difference.
Give your eyes time to adjust. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for your eyes to become fully dark-adapted. Be patient. Fainter stars and meteors will gradually appear that you could not see when you first stepped outside.
Protect your night vision. Bright white light resets your adjustment in seconds. Dim your phone screen, turn on your phone’s night mode, or cover a small flashlight with red cellophane. Red light is much gentler on your eyes.
Escape the glare if you can. Light pollution from towns and streetlights hides faint objects. You don’t need to travel far. Even moving to a dark corner of a park, a field edge or a rooftop, with streetlights blocked by a building or tree, helps.
Dress warmer than you think you need to. Standing still in November night air feels much colder than walking around. Wear layers, a hat, gloves and warm socks, and bring a folding chair or blanket.
Check the weather and the Moon. Clouds are the biggest spoiler, so look at a cloud forecast a day or two ahead.
Use a free sky app. Apps such as Stellarium, SkySafari, Star Walk or Google Sky Map let you point your phone at the sky and see what you are looking at. They are wonderful for confirming that the bright “star” over the rooftops is really a planet.
The Moon This Month
The Moon sets the rhythm of the whole month, because its brightness decides which other sights you can enjoy. November begins with a last quarter Moon on the 1st, a half-lit Moon that rises around midnight. Over the next few nights it thins to a slim crescent in the pre-dawn sky, and on the morning of November 7 look for it close to Venus and the bright star Spica.
New Moon, November 9. The Moon is lined up with the Sun and invisible to us, which means the sky is as dark as it gets. This is the best week of the month for faint things: the Milky Way’s glow from a dark site, star clusters, and the Southern and Northern Taurid meteors. Aim for roughly November 6 to 12.
First quarter Moon, November 17. A half-lit Moon stands high at sunset and sets around midnight. This is a wonderful time to point binoculars at the Moon. It also means the Leonid meteor shower will have a dark sky after the Moon sets.
Full Beaver Moon, November 24. November’s full Moon is traditionally called the Beaver Moon, a name tied to the season when beavers prepare for winter, and to the time trappers set their traps. This year it is also a supermoon: the full Moon happens close to the point in its orbit nearest to Earth. A supermoon can look somewhat larger and brighter than the average full Moon, but the difference is subtle, so don’t expect a giant glowing disc. The best moment to enjoy it is moonrise, when the Moon sits near the horizon and looks big and golden because of a well-known trick of perception called the Moon illusion.
Meteor Showers: Taurids and Leonids
A meteor shower happens when Earth plows through a trail of dust and grit left behind by a comet. Each tiny grain, usually no bigger than a grain of sand, burns up in our atmosphere and leaves a brief streak of light.
The Taurids: slow, steady, and sometimes spectacular
The Taurids are a long, gentle shower with two branches. The Southern Taurids peak around November 4 to 5, and the Northern Taurids around November 11 to 12, with some sources placing the northern peak a few days earlier. Rates are low, usually around five meteors an hour, so this is a relaxed shower rather than a fireworks display. What makes them special is that they often produce a few slow, bright fireballs. Because the new Moon falls on November 9, the Moon will not interfere. Look any clear evening that week, ideally after about 9 pm.
The Leonids: fast and bright
The Leonids are the headline shower of the month, and one of the best known in history. They are active from about November 6 to 30, with the peak expected on the night of November 17 to 18. They come from Comet Tempel-Tuttle and appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, the Lion, which rises in the east around midnight. Leonids are among the fastest meteors, travelling at roughly 70 kilometres (43 miles) per second, and they are known for bright streaks, colorful flashes and glowing trails that linger for a moment.
Set your expectations kindly. In a typical year the Leonids produce about 10 to 15 meteors an hour under a dark sky, and no meteor storm is predicted for 2026. The Moon is at first quarter on November 17, but it sets around midnight, so the best viewing, from midnight until dawn, will be nicely dark.
How to watch: Dress warmly, lie back on a reclining chair or blanket, and look at a wide patch of sky, about halfway up and not necessarily toward Leo. Meteors far from the radiant often have the longest tails. Give it at least an hour, and let your eyes adapt.
The Planets This Month
Planets are some of the easiest targets for beginners, because they are bright and visible even from a town. A handy rule: stars twinkle, planets usually shine with a steadier light. November gives you one planet for the evening and a whole parade for the early morning.
Evening sky: Saturn
Saturn reached opposition on October 4, the point when it is opposite the Sun and at its brightest, and it is still a fine target all month. Look for a steady, yellowish “star” in the south to southeast after dark, in a fairly empty part of the sky, with no other bright stars nearby. It stands high in the mid-evening and sets in the small hours. In a small telescope you can see its rings, though this year they are tilted only slightly toward us and look thin, which makes them a fun challenge.
Before dawn: a planetary parade
The real show is in the east before sunrise, where several planets line up as November goes on.
Jupiter and Mars are the stars of the show. Jupiter, the brightest object in the sky after the Moon and before Venus returns, rises around midnight at the start of November and a couple of hours earlier by the end. Reddish Mars, much fainter, sits close by. The Moon passes near both on November 2 and 3. Then Mars catches up with Jupiter and passes close to it on November 15 and 16, in a conjunction that fits comfortably in a single binocular view. By November 22, Mars, Jupiter and the bright star Regulus in Leo form a snug triangle. With binoculars, look for Jupiter’s four largest moons as tiny dots in a line beside it.
Venus has just passed between us and the Sun on October 23 and is switching from evening star to morning star. In early November it is very low and hard to spot, but if you have a clear eastern horizon, try on November 7, when a thin crescent Moon and the star Spica are nearby.
Mercury is best around November 20, when it is farthest from the Sun in the morning sky. Look low in the east-southeast about 45 minutes before sunrise, below Venus.
A bonus for binocular users: Uranus
Uranus is at opposition on November 25, in the constellation Taurus. It is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility under very dark skies, but easy in binoculars as a faint blue-green dot that looks like a star.
Stars and Constellations to Know
November is a seasonal handover. Late summer’s stars are slipping away in the west, while winter’s showpieces rise in the east. That gives you a great mix to explore, and you don’t need to learn every constellation. Start with these.
Orion, the Hunter. Orion is the most recognizable constellation in the sky and the unofficial sign that winter is coming. It climbs above the eastern horizon around 9 or 10 pm early in the month, and stands tall by midnight. Look for three bright stars in a short, straight row, which make up Orion’s Belt. Above and to the left shines orange-red Betelgeuse, and below and to the right is blue-white Rigel. Hanging below the belt is a faint, fuzzy patch: the Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery where new stars are being born.
The Pleiades and Taurus. Not far to the right of Orion you’ll find the Pleiades, also called the Seven Sisters, a tiny, sparkling cluster of young blue stars that looks like a miniature dipper. Most people see six or seven stars with the naked eye, and binoculars reveal dozens.
The Great Square of Pegasus and the Andromeda Galaxy. High in the south in the evening is a large, faint square of four stars. From its upper left corner, a line of stars leads away like a chain of stepping stones, and with a bit of patience you can find the Andromeda Galaxy: a soft, oval smudge of light. It is about 2.5 million light-years away, which makes it the most distant thing most people can see with the naked eye.
Cassiopeia and the Double Cluster. High in the north-northeast, look for a bright, zigzag W. This is Cassiopeia, and it sits in a rich band of the Milky Way. Just below it, binoculars reveal the Double Cluster, two dazzling clusters of stars that sit side by side.
Do You Need a Telescope? Not Yet
The honest answer is no. Most of what is in this guide needs nothing more than your eyes, and that is the best place to begin. Here is a simple way to think about equipment.
Binoculars. If you want one small upgrade, make it a pair of binoculars. A common beginner choice is 7×50 or 10×50, which collect plenty of light and are light enough to hold steady. With them you can see Jupiter’s moons, the craters on the Moon, the Pleiades blooming into dozens of stars, the Orion Nebula, the Double Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy and even Uranus.
Small telescope. If you are curious about a telescope, wait a few weeks, try binoculars first and visit a local astronomy club. Many clubs host free public “star parties” where you can look through different telescopes and ask questions, with no obligation to buy anything. Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s cloud bands are rewarding first targets for a small telescope.
Happy Stargazing
Stargazing is wonderfully forgiving. Clouds can cancel a plan, and the sky will happily offer another chance next week. The more often you look, the more familiar the sky becomes, until one evening you realize you can name what you are seeing without checking your phone. Clear skies, and happy stargazing.