Astroblog: Thursday November 12 to Thursday November 19

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Thursday November 12 to Thursday November 19

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday November 17. Saturn is past opposition, but still magnificent in telescopes in the evening. In the morning. Mars and Jupiter are in the "sickle" of Leo close to the bright star Regulus. Mars and Jupiter are spectacularly close on the 16th, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus. Venus and the bright star Spica are close together low in the morning twilight. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on the 17th but low rates are expected.

The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday November 17. Moon at apogee on November 14.

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 forms a line with Jupiter and the bright star Regulus. The pair are in the "sickle" of Leo and come closer over the week. On the 16th they are close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, forming a triangle with Regulus.

Venus and Spica are close low above the horizon

The insets shows the telescopic view of Mars, Jupiter and Venus at this time.

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise).

North-eastern horizon on the evening of Saturday, November 14 as seen from Adelaide at 21:36 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Saturn is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Saturn is past opposition, but is still a magnificent telescopic sight.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time.

Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

Whole sky on Saturday, November 14 as seen from Adelaide at 21:36 ACDST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Scorpius, and the core of the Milky way are sinking to the west. Scorpius forms an inverted question mark above the western horizon. Orion the hunter, Scorpius's nemesis rises on the eastern horizon.

The Pointers are low in the Southern sky as the Southern Cross is almost above the Southern horizon. The Moon is almost new and the fainter clusters and nebula are easily seen.

Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

Mercury is lost in the the evening twilight.

Venus climbs higher in the morning twilight close to Spica.

Mars is not far from Jupiter. Mars and Jupiter are spectacularly close on the 16th, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus.

Jupiter climbs higher the morning twilight. Mars and Jupiter are spectacularly close on the 16th, close enough to fit together in wide field telescope objectives, and forming a triangle with Regulus.

Saturn Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on October the 4th. Saturn is the brightest object above the north-eastern horizon.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ACDST, Western sky at 10 pm ACDST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see the monthly sky roundup.

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky