Friday, Nov. 1: New Moon


The moon will reach its new phase on Friday, Nov. 1 at 8:47 a.m. EDT, 5:47 a.m. PDT, or 12:47 GMT. At that time our natural satellite will be located in western Libra and 3.5 degrees south of the sun. While new, the moon is traveling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only reach the far side of the moon, and the moon is in the same region of the sky as the sun, the moon becomes unobservable from anywhere on Earth for about a day (except during a solar eclipse). On the evenings following the new moon phase, our planet’s partner will return to shine in the western sky after sunset. 


Sunday, Nov. 3: Daylight Saving Time ends


For jurisdictions that adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST), clocks should be set backward by one hour at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, Nov. 3. After Sunday at mid-northern latitudes, the morning sky will be brighter for your commute to school or work and the moon and stars will be shining by dinner time, allowing the youngest astronomers to have some telescope time. Daylight Saving Time will resume on March 9, 2025.  


Sunday, Nov. 3: Crescent moon, a star, and planets


Search just above the southwestern horizon for a short period after sunset on Sunday, Nov. 3, to see the slim crescent of the young moon positioned a generous palm’s width to the left (or 7 degrees to the celestial southeast) of the small dot of Mercury. Much brighter Venus will gleam off to their upper left. Observers located closer to the tropics, where the ecliptic will be more vertical, will see the moon and the planets more easily. As the sky darkens the fainter, but prominent star Antares, which marks the heart of the Scorpion, will appear just to the upper left of the moon. 


Monday, Nov. 4: Earthshine moon under Venus


After 24 hours of orbital motion, the pretty crescent moon will hop east to shine several finger widths below (or celestial south of) Venus on Monday, Nov. 4. Look for the pair in the lower part of the southwestern sky immediately after sunset. They will be close enough to share the view in binoculars (orange circle) and will make a lovely widefield photograph. Take note of Earthshine, also known as the Ashen Glow and “the old moon in the new moon’s arms”. That’s sunlight reflected off Earth and back onto the moon, slightly brightening the dark portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere. The phenomenon appears for several days after each new moon. 


Monday, Nov. 4: Southern Taurid meteor shower peak (late evening)


The Southern Taurid meteor shower, which is active worldwide from Sept. 28 to Dec. 8 annually, will reach its maximum rate of about 5 meteors per hour on Monday night, Nov. 4. Some meteors will appear once the sky darkens on Monday evening, but the best viewing time in the Americas will be around midnight when the radiant in western Taurus will be highest in the sky. Taurid meteors, which can appear anywhere in the sky, will be traveling away from a point in western Taurus. The long-lasting, weak shower is the first of two consecutive showers derived from debris dropped by the passage of periodic Comet 2P/Encke. The larger-than-average grain sizes of the comet’s debris often produce colorful fireballs. This year, an early-setting moon will not affect the shower, though the bright planet Jupiter will shine near the radiant all night long. 


Wednesday, Nov. 6: Lunar craters Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina


On Wednesday evening, Nov. 6, the terminator boundary between the moon’s lit and dark hemispheres will fall just to the left of a trio of large craters named Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina that curve along the western edge of gray Mare Nectaris. You can tell what order the craters were formed in by observing how sharp and fresh Theophilus’ rim appears, and by the way it has partially overprinted neighboring Cyrillus to its lower left (or lunar southwest). Under magnification, Theophilus’ terraced rim and craggy central mountain peak are evident. Cyrillus hosts a trio of degraded central peaks inside a hexagonal rim, while much older Catharina’s peak has been submerged, her edges blurred and her floor overprinted by smaller, more recent craters. 


Saturday, Nov. 9: First Quarter Moon


The moon will complete the first quarter of its 29.53-day trip around Earth on Saturday morning, Nov. 9 at 12:55 a.m. EST or 05:55 GMT, which converts to 9:55 p.m. PST on Friday evening. Lunar phases occur independently of Earth’s rotation. First quarter moons always rise around mid-day and set around midnight, so they are also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. 


At first quarter, the moon’s 90-degree angle from the sun causes us to see it half-illuminated on its eastern side. The evenings surrounding first quarter are the best ones for seeing the lunar terrain when it is dramatically lit by low-angled sunlight, especially along the terminator, the pole-to-pole boundary that separates the moon’s lit and dark hemispheres.


Sunday, Nov. 10: Moon approaches Saturn


On Sunday, Nov. 10, the waxing gibbous moon will climb the southeastern sky all afternoon. Once the sky begins to darken after sunset, face south and look for the prominent, yellowish dot of Saturn close enough to the moon for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Later that evening, observers located in a broad zone extending from the Atlantic Ocean and southwest across southern Florida, the Caribbean, Central America, and northwestern South America can see the moon occult Saturn with unaided eyes, binoculars, and backyard telescopes. Surrounding regions will see the moon merely pass close to Saturn. Use an app like Starry Night to look up the occultation times for your location. 


Monday, Nov. 11: Northern Taurids Meteor Shower Peak (all night)


The Northern Taurids meteor shower, which is active worldwide from Oct. 20 to Dec. 10 annually, will reach its maximum overnight on Monday, Nov. 11 in the Americas. The best viewing time for North American skywatchers will be the hours around midnight when the shower’s radiant near the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus will be well above the horizon, especially after the bright moon sets around 2:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The long-lasting, weak shower is the second of two consecutive showers derived from debris dropped by the passage of periodic Comet 2P/Encke. The Northern Taurids shower typically delivers 5 meteors per hour at its peak. The larger-than-average grain sizes of the particles often produce colorful fireballs. 


Tuesday, Nov. 12: Inner planets prance in the west


During mid-November, the inner planets Venus and Mercury will both shine in the southwestern sky after sunset. Mercury will be positioned less than two fist diameters to the lower right (or 18 degrees to the celestial west) of Venus and will set only an hour after the sun. Far brighter Venus will linger for more than an hour longer.  


Wednesday, Nov. 13: The Aristarchus Plateau (all night)


Three prominent craters break up the expanse of Oceanus Procellarum, the widespread dark region on the moon’s left-hand side. Large Copernicus is the easternmost of the craters. Its extensive, ragged ray system intermingles with that of the smaller crater Kepler to its southwest. The very bright crater Aristarchus positioned northwest of them occupies the southeastern corner of a diamond-shaped plateau that is one of the most colorful regions on the moon. NASA orbiters have detected high levels of radioactive radon there. 


Use a telescope and high magnification to view features like the large, sinuous rille named Vallis Schröteri. Its snake-like form begins between Aristarchus and next-door Herodotus and meanders across the plateau.


Thursday, Nov. 14: Bright lunar ray systems (all night)


While the moon is near its full phase, bright rays can be seen radiating from the younger craters on the lunar near side. The impact that created the bright crater Tycho, which is located in the south-central area of the moon, produced streaks of bright material that extend in multiple directions across the moon’s near side. 


Another particularly interesting ray system surrounds the crater Proclus. The 16-mile (27 km) wide crater and its ray system are visible in binoculars. They are located at the lower left edge of Mare Crisium, the round grey basin near the moon’s upper right edge (northeast on the moon). The Proclus rays, about 370 miles (600 km) in length, only appear on the eastern, right-hand side of the crater, and within Mare Crisium, suggesting that the impactor arrived at a shallow angle from the southwest. The small crater Menelaus on the southern edge of Mare Serenitatis hosts some small rays. A long, possibly unrelated, ray passes through both Menelaus and the mare. (Note that east and west are reversed on the moon).


Friday, Nov. 15: Full frost supermoon


The November Full Moon, traditionally known as the Beaver Moon or Frost Moon, always shines within or near the stars of Taurus and Aries. The moon will reach its full phase at 4:29 p.m. EST, 1:29 p.m. PST, or 21:29 GMT on Friday, Nov. 15 but local moon rise times will vary depending on your location. 


Indigenous groups have their own names for the full moons, which lit the way of the hunter or traveler at night before modern conveniences like flashlights. The Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes region call this one Mnidoons Giizis Oonhg, the “Little Spirit Moon”, a time of healing. The Cree Nation of central Canada calls it Kaskatinowipisim, the “Rivers Freeze-up Moon”, when the lakes and rivers start to freeze. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois / Mohawk) of Eastern North America call it Kentenhko:wa, the “Time of Much Poverty Moon”. 


Full moons that occur during the cold months in North America will climb as high in the sky as the summer noonday sun, and cast similar shadows. Since the moon passed perigee 1.4 days ago, this will also be the last of four consecutive supermoons in 2024, appearing about 6% larger and 16% brighter than an average full moon (as shown by the red circle). 


Friday, Nov. 15: Saturn stops reversing


On Saturday night, Nov. 15, Saturn’s westward retrograde motion through the stars of central Aquarius will slow to a stop as it completes a retrograde loop that it began in July. Saturn’s magnitude 0.9, yellowish dot will appear in the lower part of the southeastern sky at dusk, climb to its highest point due south at 7:15 p.m. local time, and then set in the west around 12:30 a.m. 


Retrograde loops occur when Earth, on a faster orbit closer to the sun, passes more distant solar system objects “on the inside track”, making them appear to move backwards across the stars for a while. Saturn’s loop covered about a palm’s width, or 6 degrees of the celestial sphere. 


Saturday, Nov. 16: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation


On Saturday, Nov. 16, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will reach its widest separation of 23 degrees east of the sun and maximum visibility for its current evening apparition. With Mercury positioned well below (i.e., south of) the tilted evening ecliptic (green line) in the southwestern sky, this appearance of the planet will be a poor one for Northern Hemisphere observers, but a very good showing from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. 


The optimal viewing times at mid-northern latitudes will start around 5 p.m. local time. Viewed in a telescope (inset) the planet will exhibit a waning, slightly gibbous phase. The much brighter planet Venus will shine some distance to Mercury’s upper left (or celestial east).


Saturday, Nov. 16: Uranus at opposition (all night)


On Saturday, Nov. 16 Uranus will reach opposition, the night of the year when it is closest to Earth. Today Uranus will be at a distance of 1.74 billion miles, 2.78 billion km, or 154 light-minutes, and will shine at a peak brightness of magnitude 5.61 as it crosses the sky all night long, making it readily visible in binoculars and backyard telescopes. 


Uranus’ small, blue-green dot will also appear slightly larger in telescopes for about a week centered on opposition night. Uranus has been moving slowly retrograde westwards through western Taurus. This month, it will be positioned about a palm’s width to the right (or 6.5 degrees to the celestial southwest) of the Pleiades Star Cluster aka Messier 45. If you use your binoculars (orange circle) to find the medium-bright stars named Botein and Epsilon Arietis, Uranus will be the dull-looking blue-green “star” located several finger widths below (southeast of) them. To see the planet more easily, wait a few nights for the bright moon to move away from Uranus. 


Saturday, Nov. 16: Bright moon joins Jupiter (all night)


In the eastern sky after dusk on Saturday, Nov. 16, the very bright, gibbous moon will shine near the brilliant planet Jupiter. The pair will climb to their highest position in the southern sky after midnight and then descend in the west as sunrise approaches. By then the diurnal rotation of the sky will shift Jupiter to the moon’s left. The gigantic winter hexagon asterism, a ring composed of the brightest stars in the winter constellations of Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Minor, Canis Major, and Orion, will surround Jupiter this winter.  


Sunday, Nov. 17: Leonid Meteor Shower peaks (pre-dawn)


The annual Leonid Meteor shower, derived from material left by repeated passages of periodic Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is active from Nov. 6 to 30. The peak of the shower, when up to 15 meteors per hour are predicted, will occur from Saturday night, Nov. 16 into Sunday morning, Nov. 17 in the Americas, when Earth will be traversing the densest part of the comet’s debris train. While you should see a few Leonids after dusk on Saturday evening — many with persistent trains — more of them will be apparent on Sunday in the hours before dawn when the radiant in the head of Leo will be high in the southeastern sky. Unfortunately, a bright moon will shine all night long during this year’s shower, obscuring the fainter meteors.  


Tuesday, Nov. 19: Moon near the twins (all night)


When the waning gibbous moon rises over the eastern treetops on Tuesday evening, Nov. 19, it will be positioned a short distance below (or southeast of) the bright golden star Pollux, which marks the head of Gemini’s eastern twin. The slightly fainter and whiter double star Castor will shine above them. Bright reddish Mars will be located well below the moon. Our natural satellite shifts east by about its own diameter every hour (green line), so observers viewing the scene later or in more westerly time zones will see the moon farther from Pollux and closer to Mars. The diurnal rotation of the sky will also pivot their line to horizontal for early risers viewing them high in the west at dawn on Wednesday. 


Wednesday, Nov. 20: Moon meets Mars and the bees (all night)


After 24 hours of additional motion, the waning gibbous moon will drop lower and shine several finger-widths to the lower left (or celestial east) of Mars on Wednesday evening, Nov. 20. The moon and Mars will be close enough for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Binoculars should also reveal a large collection of stars scattered below Mars — the open star cluster in Cancer known as Messier 44 or the Beehive. To better see the “bees”, which cover an area more than twice the moon’s diameter, hide the moon out of sight beyond the left edge of your binoculars.  


Thursday, Nov. 21: Moonlight tolerant stars


Only the brightest stars are visible to our unaided eyes on moonlight-flooded nights. Early on Thursday evening, Nov. 21, the very bright star Vega in the constellation of Lyra the Harp will be descending the western sky. At magnitude 0.0, it’s the 5th brightest star in the sky (not counting our sun). The star Altair in Aquila the Eagle shining several fist diameters to Vega’s left has a magnitude value of 0.75, making it the 13th brightest star. Deneb in Cygnus the Swan will be located above and between the other two, rounding out the trio of hot white stars that form the Summer Triangle asterism. At magnitude 1.25, Deneb ranks 20th in brightness. 


Observers with a very low southwestern horizon might be able to see Fomalhaut, ranked 18th, in Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish. Over in the east, very bright yellowish Capella (ranked 6th) in Auriga will be shining to the upper left of reddish Aldebaran (ranked 14th), marking the eye of Taurus the Bull.


Friday, Nov. 22: The double cluster


The northeastern sky on November evenings hosts the bright constellations of Perseus and W-shaped Cassiopeia, with the very bright star Capella positioned well below them. The sky between Perseus and Cassiopeia hosts the Double Cluster, a pair of bright open star clusters that together cover a finger’s width of the sky. They make a spectacular sight in binoculars (orange circle) or a telescope at low magnification. 


The higher (more westerly) cluster, designated NGC 869, is dense and contains more than 200 white and blue-white stars. The lower (easterly) cluster NGC 884 is looser and includes a handful of 8th-magnitude golden stars. The clusters, which both formed in the same part of the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, are about 7,300 light-years away from us. The clusters would be even brighter if they weren’t being dimmed by opaque dust in the galactic plane. 


Friday, Nov. 22: Saturday, Nov. 23 – Third Quarter Moon


The moon will complete three-quarters of its orbit around Earth, measured from the previous new moon, on  Friday, Nov. 22 at 8:28 p.m. EST (5.28 p.m. PST or 0128 GMT on Saturday, Nov. 23). At its third (or last) quarter phase, the moon is half-illuminated, on its western, sunward side. It will rise around midnight local time, and then remain visible until it sets in the western daytime sky in early afternoon. Third quarter moons are positioned ahead of the Earth in our trip around the sun. About 3½ hours later, Earth will occupy that same location in space. The week of dark, moonless evening skies that follow this phase are the best ones for observing fainter deep sky targets. 


Wednesday, Nov. 27: Crescent moon covers Spica (pre-dawn)


For observers located in a zone covering most of the eastern continental USA and Canada, the old, waning crescent moon will pass in front of (or occult) Virgo’s brightest star, Spica shortly after it has cleared the trees in the east on Wednesday morning, Nov. 27 before sunrise. Use an app like Starry Night to look up the times for the occultation. In New York City, Spica will disappear behind the moon’s lit crescent at about 5:35 a.m. EST. The star will pop into view from behind the dark limb of the moon in a brightening sky around 6:50 a.m. EST. Lunar occultations are safe to view you’re your unaided eyes. Binoculars (orange circle) or any size of telescope will show it best. Start watching a few minutes before each stage of the event.  


Thursday, Nov. 28: Medusa’s eye pulses (at 6:03 p.m. EST)


The star Algol in the constellation of Perseus represents the glowing eye of Medusa from Greek mythology. Also designated Beta Persei, it is among the most accessible variable stars for skywatchers. During a ten-hour period that repeats like clockwork every 2 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes, Algol dims noticeably and re-brightens by about a third when a fainter companion star with an orbit nearly edge-on to Earth crosses in front of its much brighter primary, reducing the total light output we perceive. Algol normally shines at magnitude 2.1, similar to the nearby star Almach (aka Gamma Andromedae). But while fully dimmed, Algol’s brightness of magnitude 3.4 is almost identical to Rho Persei (or Gorgonea Tertia or ρ Per), the star sitting just two finger widths to Algol’s lower right (or 2.25 degrees to the celestial south). On Thursday evening, Nov. 28 at 6:03 p.m. EST or 23:03 GMT, Algol will be at its minimum brightness. At that time it will be located one-third of the way up the east-northeastern sky. Five hours later the star will return to full intensity from a perch nearly overhead. Observers in more westerly time zones can see the latter stages of the brightening. 


Saturday, Nov. 30: Mars nears the Beehive (overnight)


As November comes to a close, the eastward orbital motion of Mars will be carrying the red planet towards the large open star cluster in Cancer known as the Beehive, Praesepe, and Messier 44. The cluster spans an area more than twice the size of the full moon. Mars and its scattered stars will easily share the field of view in binoculars (orange circle). In early December, Mars will slow to a stop and commence a westward retrograde loop (red path) that will keep the planet near the Beehive cluster until the last week of December, giving imagers plenty of time to photograph the duo. 


Read more at: https://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html