Thursday, October 29, 2026
November Skies 2026, and Astrophiz podcast
To be read in conjunction with the astrophiz podcast #245
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| North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Tuesday, November 3 as seen from
Adelaide
at 4:52 ACDST (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Saturn is just above the western horizon. Mars forms a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus. The pair come closer over the week ahead of a spectacular meeting mid November. The waning Moon is in between Mars and Jupiter, with the Moon occulting Jupiter later in the morning. The insets shows the telescopic view of Mars Jupiter at this time. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes before sunrise). | North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Saturdayday, November 7 as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:23 ACDST (45 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars forms a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus. The pair come closer over the week ahead of a spectacular meeting on the 16th. The Thin crescent Moon is close to the pair of Venus and Spica, low to the horizon. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (45 minutes before sunrise). |
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| North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Monday, November 16 as seen from
Adelaide
at 5:00 ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars and Jupiter ~1°apart, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus. The pair of Venus and Spica are low to the horizon. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (60 minutes before sunrise). | North-Eastern horizon on the morning of Wednesday, November 25 as seen from
Adelaide
at 4:53 ACDST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars is close to Regulus forming a triangle with Jupiter. The pair of Venus and Spica are low to the horizon. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (60 minutes before sunrise). |
| November | |
| 2 November 2026 | Waning Moon near near Mars (1° apart) in the late morning sky |
| 3 November 2026 | Waning Moon very near Jupiter (0.5° apart) in the morning sky, daytime occultation. Visible from most of Australia except NE QLD. Telescope, Binocular |
| 7 November 2026 | Thin crescent moon close to Venus, with Spica nearby, in the morning twilight. |
| 10 November 2026 | Venus close to Spica in morning twilight sky |
| 16 November 2026 | Mars close to Jupiter in the morning twilight, forming a triangle with Regulus. |
| 18/19 November 2026 | Leonid Meteor Shower |
| 25 November 2026 | Full Moon (almost perigee Moon), Mars close to Regulus, forming a triangle with Jupiter, in the morning twilight. |
| 26 November 2026 | Opposition of Uranus (not far from Pleiades, easy binocular target, possible unaided eye) |
Mercury is lost the twilight in the first week of November, then returns to the morning skies late November but isn’t really visible low in the twilight.
Saturn came to opposition when it was biggest and brightest as seen from earth, on October the 4th and was visible the entire night. It is best viewed telescopically around between 9 pm to 11 pm local time. On November 20th the waxing Moon is ~8° from Saturn. The rings are an awesome spectacle in even small telescopes.
Morning sky:
Venus returns to the morning twilight sky mid-November. For most of the month, 1st magnitude Spica will remain within 2° of the planet. On the 7th, the 28-day‑old waning crescent Moon appears near the pair of Venus and Spica . Venus is at its greatest brilliancy on the 30th at –4.6 magnitude.
Mars is rising about 2:30 am in Leo. Mars form a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus. On the 3rd the just past last Quarter Moon is between Mars and Jupiter. At magnitude 0.8, the Red Planet is quite obvious and is a clear “gibbous Moon” shape in telescopes. Over the coming days Mars and Jupiter move closer together, on the 16th the pair are ~1°apart, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus. On the 25th, Mars is around 2° from Regulus, forming a triangle with Jupiter.
Jupiter rising around 1:00 am mid‑month, is visible in the eastern morning sky in Leo near mars. On the 3rd the just past last Quarter Moon is between Jupiter and Mars. There is a daytime occultation of Jupiter later on the 3rd, visible from most of Australia. Over the coming days Jupiter and Mars move closer together, on the 16th the pair are ~1°apart, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus.
Uranus comes to opposition on the 26th, rising in the early evening eastern sky It is highest about midnight almost directly between The Pleiades and Hyades. While Uranus is nominally visible to the unaided eye at magnitude 5.6, even under dark skies you may find it hard to spot with the scattering of stars of similar brightness all around. If you look a binocular field from the Pleiades towards the Hyades and watch over several night the dot that moves is Uranus. The nearby bright moon may make spotting it difficult on the night of opposition.
North-eastern sky at midnight on 26 November. Uranus between The Pleiades and Hyades. The inset is the binocular view. Uranus is theoretically unaided eye visible under dark sky sites if you know where to look but is best with binoculars or telescope.
Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time.
| November 2 | Last Quarter Moon (ideal for star gazing) |
| November 3 | Daylight occultation of Jupiter |
| November 9 | New Moon (also ideal for star gazing total solar eclipse northern hemisphere) |
| November 14 | Moon at apogee |
| November 19 | First Quarter Moon |
| November 25 | Full Moon (Moon at perigee November 26) |
Daylight Occultation of Jupiter, Tuesday, 3 November 2026:
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| The north-western sky as seen from Brisbane at 9:59 AEST on Tuesday 3 November. The moon is obvious above the horizon, but you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Jupiter. The left-hand inset shows the magnified view just as the occultation starts, and the right-hand view is the view as Jupiter comes out from behind the Moon. | The north-western sky as seen from Adelaide at 9:50 ACDST on Tuesday 3 November. The moon is obvious above the horizon, but you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Jupiter. The left-hand inset shows the magnified view just as the occultation starts, and the right-hand view is the view as Jupiter comes out from behind the Moon. | The northern sky as seen from Perth at 6:46 AWST on Tuesday 3 November. The moon is obvious above the horizon, but you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Jupiter. The left-hand inset shows the magnified view just as the occultation starts, and the right-hand view is the view as Jupiter comes out from behind the Moon. |
On the morning of Tuesday 3 November Jupiter is occulted by waning Moon as seen from the most of Australia, Indonesia, Papua new Guinea and New Zealand. However far north Queensland misses out. The Moon is just past last quarter and high in the north to northwest. It is an obvious signpost for where to look. Jupiter will not be visible to the unaided eye, but in binoculars and telescopes Jupiter will be obvious close to the Moon. The times of disappearance and reappearance of Jupiter is in the table below. For more details viewing guides and sun safe procedures, see my Daylight Occultation of Jupiter page.
| Place | Disappears Bright Limb | Reappears Dark Limb |
| Adelaide ACDST | 09:50 | 11:03 |
| Brisbane AEST | 09:59 | 10:18 |
| Canberra AEDST | 10:36 | 11:39 |
| Darwin ACST | 08:31 | 09:51 |
| Hobart AEDST | 10:32 | 11:41 |
| Melbourne AEDST | 10:30 | 11:39 |
| Perth AWST | 06:46 | 07:57 |
| Sydney AEDST | 10:41 | 11:37 |
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| The western sky as seen at 20:53 ACDST from Adelaide on November 9, 60 minutes after sunset (New Moon). Scorpius is setiing as its arch nemesis, Orion the Hunter, is rising. The Southern Cross is grazing the horizon almost due south. | The Eastern sky as seen at 23:00 ACDST from Adelaide on November 9 (New Moon). TOrion the hunter can be clearly see, with Sirius and Canopus rising as well. |
Scorpius forms a reversed question mark sinking into the western horizon.
Sagittarius and with it the centre of the galaxy have departed the Zenith and are low on the western horizon.
Orion, Canis Major and the stars of Carina, Puppis and Vela begin to rise and will be prominent in the late evening sky by the end of the month.
At around 10:00 pm local time the Southern Cross will almost due South in the sky. Most of the magnificent Southern clusters and nebula are sitting on the southern horizon, however, the Lesser Magellanic cloud (there is a move to rename it) and the magnificent globular cluster 47 Tucana are high due south and a delight, the much smaller globular cluster NGC 362 is in the same binocular field. The faint constellation Tucana celebrates the Toucan of the South American Jungles. Sweeping up with binoculars from 47 Tucana is the faint double star Lambda Tucana, sweeping up further is the bright double star beta Tucana.Sweeping east and a little down by 3 binocular fields is the Large Magellanic Cloud, the other dwarf galaxy of our own, with the iconic Tarantula nebula and a wealth of small clusters to explore.
Here are links to printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ACDST and Western sky at 10 pm ACDST.
Meteors: The Leonid meteor shower peaks on November 18 but has low rates no more than 3-4 meteors per hour are expected originating in the sickle of Leo.
Labels: Astrophiz, Monthly sky, Occultation, podcasts
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