November Skies 2026, and Astrophiz podcast

To be read in conjunction with the astrophiz podcast #245

https://astrophiz.com/2026/10/29/astrophiz-245-november-sky-guide-a-daylight-occultation-of-jupiter-mars-and-jupiter-close-together-uranus-at-opposition-and-the-leonid-storms-to-come/

  

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).
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).

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.

Daylight Occultation of Jupiter, Tuesday, 3 November 2026:

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.  

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.