Night sky in November 2026

About this guide

This guide describes the sky as seen from mid-northern latitudes, about 40 degrees north, which covers Türkiye, southern Europe and the central United States. Times are in Universal Time (UTC); add or subtract your own time zone offset. Positions were calculated with Astronomy Engine for an observer at 40° N.

"Evening" here means about an hour after sunset, and "morning" about an hour before sunrise. Brightness is given in magnitudes, where smaller numbers mean brighter objects; the brightest stars are around magnitude 0.

From the Southern Hemisphere, the same planets and Moon phases appear on the same dates, but the evening sky sits higher toward the north and the constellations appear upside down compared with this description.

Moon phases

The month opens just after last quarter, which fell on November 1 at 20:28 UTC. New Moon comes on November 9 at 07:02 UTC, giving the darkest evenings of the month in the week around it.

First quarter follows on November 17 at 11:48 UTC, and the Full Moon arrives on November 24 at 14:54 UTC. The Moon reaches perigee, its closest point to Earth for the month, about a day later at about 223,300 miles, so this Full Moon looks slightly larger and brighter than average. The next last quarter is on December 1 at 06:09 UTC.

There are no eclipses this month. The next ones, as of 2026, are an annular solar eclipse and a penumbral lunar eclipse in February 2027.

Planets after dark and before dawn

Saturn is the evening planet. An hour after sunset it sits about 30 degrees up in the southeast, shining steadily at about magnitude 0.5 on the border of Cetus and Pisces. Any small telescope shows its rings. Neptune lies in the same area but needs a telescope.

Uranus reaches opposition on November 25, meaning it lies opposite the Sun and is up all night. At magnitude 5.6 in Taurus it is a faint dot for binoculars, southwest of the Pleiades.

The morning sky is busier. Venus, at about magnitude −4.8, climbs from low in the east-southeast at the start of the month to about 25 degrees up by November 30. Jupiter (about −2.1) and Mars (about 0.7) stand high in the south in Leo before dawn. On November 16 the two are only about 1.2 degrees apart, a little more than two Full Moon widths; Jupiter is far brighter, Mars slightly orange.

Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation, its farthest point from the Sun in the morning sky, on November 20. It is low, only about 5–6 degrees up in the east-southeast an hour before sunrise, at about magnitude −0.6. Look about 45 minutes before sunrise with a clear, flat horizon, and put binoculars away once the Sun is close to rising.

The Moon meets planets and stars

On the morning of November 3, the waning crescent Moon sits about 3–4 degrees from Jupiter, with Mars and Regulus close by in Leo. The closest geocentric approach to Jupiter is on November 2 at about 23:00 UTC.

On the morning of November 7, a thin crescent Moon is about 3 degrees from brilliant Venus low in the east-southeast, with Spica nearby. This pairing is a fine photo target in twilight.

On the evening of November 20, the waxing gibbous Moon lies about 6 degrees from Saturn. On November 24, the Full Moon passes very close to the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, though its glare hides the fainter stars.

The Leonid meteor shower

The Leonids are debris from Comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle. According to the International Meteor Organization (IMO) calendar for 2026, the peak is expected on November 17, with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of about 15. ZHR is the ideal rate under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead, so real counts are usually lower.

The Moon is about 50 percent lit at the peak and sets at about 23:50 UTC as seen from 40° N, so the best window is from local midnight until dawn, when the radiant in Leo is high in the east. Leonids are fast and some leave glowing trails.

You do not need equipment. Lie back, face east or straight up, and give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adapt to the dark.

Constellations in the evening

Early evening still shows the Summer Triangle setting in the west. High in the south is the Great Square of Pegasus, with Andromeda trailing from its corner; from a dark site, the Andromeda Galaxy is a faint oval smudge visible to the eye or easily in binoculars.

Cassiopeia's W shape rides high in the northeast, and Perseus follows it. By mid-evening the Pleiades and Taurus are up in the east, with Auriga and bright Capella in the northeast. Orion clears the eastern horizon later in the night, a sign of the winter sky to come.

Tonight's checklist

Check the Moon phase first: the evenings from about November 5 to 13 are darkest. Let your eyes adapt for 20 minutes and use a red light if you need one.

Evening: find Saturn in the southeast and the Pleiades in the east. Morning: look for Venus in the east-southeast, and Jupiter and Mars high in the south, especially around November 16.

Write down what you saw and the time. Small notes like this make it easy to follow how planets move from week to week.