Dark Sky News

Saturn is up in its full glory! The planet rises as the Sun sets, stands highest around midnight and sets with the morning twilight. It is visible all night.

Pegasus is an excellent autumn constellation for a varied observing session, with a bright globular cluster, subtle galaxies, and an easily recognized naked-eye pattern.

M15 is the standout target for binoculars or a small telescope. Find it a little over 4° northwest of Enif—roughly one binocular field away. In binoculars it resembles a small fuzzy star; a telescope reveals its strongly concentrated central glow.

For galaxies, we have NGC 7331, then Stephan’s Quintet, a much harder visual target: expect faint, elusive patches rather than the dramatic interacting structures in photographs. A moonless, transparent sky and an accurate finder chart matter greatly. NGC 7217 is another worthwhile stop, with a more compact appearance than NGC 7331.

Finally, if you can find 51 Pegasi, just west of the Square… It looks like an ordinary star, but it hosts the planet whose discovery established the first known exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star!

The Taurids are a yearly meteor shower radiating from the constellation Taurus. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. This shower is of particular interest because it is known to occasionally produce bright fireballs, also known as bolides. These fireballs are common during the Taurids due to the relatively large size of the meteoroids in the debris stream. Taurids are also some of the slowest moving meteors, passing through our atmosphere at around 28 kilometers per second.

November’s new moon will provide darker skies in the early half of the month, making it easier to view faint deep-sky targets. The best conditions will last roughly from the 4th through the 13th. Astrophotographers should take note, as this is also the best window of the month to schedule imaging sessions, especially for objects located in the dense Cygnus region of the Milky Way, which will appear progressively lower on the southwestern horizon each evening. Anyone looking to capture a wide-field Milky Way photo should make the most of this window, as this will be your last chance to capture our cosmic core until the next Milky Way season begins in March.

This is the second part of the Taurid meteor shower, primarily produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke.

The highlight of November’s night sky will be the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, which will occur just before sunrise on the 16th. Jupiter and Mars reach their closest conjunction, appearing roughly 1.2° apart in the morning/southeast sky. The planetary pair will spend much of the month in close proximity, meaning observers should have plenty of opportunities to catch this spectacular sight. As a bonus, the bright star Regulus will be visible nearby, with the three objects briefly aligning to create a triangular asterism on the 16th. 

Known for producing exceptionally fast-moving fireballs that streak across the night sky at an outstanding 71 kilometers per second, the Leonids are a highly anticipated yearly meteor shower caused by the debris left behind by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. This shower is famous for producing meteor storms, where over a thousand meteors fall every hour. In 1966, the Leonids produced one of the most active storms in recent history, with the peak rate reportedly reaching nearly 40 meteors per second. The last major storm produced by the Leonids occurred in 2002, the night I proposed to my wife!

November’s full moon, often referred to as the Beaver Moon, will rise after sunset on the 24th. This will be the first of three consecutive Super Moons. A Super Moon occurs when the full moon phase coincides with our Moon’s closest approach to Earth in its orbit, known as perigee. As a result, the Moon will appear noticeably larger and brighter than a typical full moon. 

The evening of the 23rd will also provide a great view of the nearly full Super Moon, and those willing to get an early start will have the chance to see the full moon making a close pass with the Pleiades star cluster in early morning hours of the 24th.

On November 25th, Uranus will be at opposition, making it the best time to view the planet through a telescope. Opposition occurs when Uranus is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, meaning it will rise shortly after sunset and remain visible all night long. The best time to view Uranus during its opposition is around midnight, when it is highest in the sky and atmospheric distortion is minimized.

To find Uranus in November 2026, look towards the constellation of Taurus, where the pale ice giant will be positioned between the Pleiades cluster and the bright star Aldebaran.