As October comes to an end, November brings with it another lineup of stellar celestial sights for astronomy enthusiasts to enjoy. From a clear view of Mercury to a super moon and three meteor showers, keep an eye out for these 10 astronomical sightings in the coming month:
1. Mercury at its highest altitude – 1-2 November
In the first evenings of the month, Mercury will reach its highest point in the night sky and be visible to the naked eye. The planet is usually tricky to spot – it orbits extremely close to the Sun and often gets drowned out by the sunlight – so this is one of the best times to catch a glimpse of Mercury in all its glory.
But how you see Mercury depends on your location: the closer an area is to the equator, the higher it will appear in the night sky while high-latitude areas may not be able to spot the planet at all.
2. The Southern Taurid Meteor Shower – 4-5 November
First in mid-October, the Southern Taurid Meteor Shower once again peaks in early November. This meteor shower is typically low-frequency, but exceptionally bright shooting stars are expected to fill the sky this year around – some even brighter than Venus. Late into the night of 4 November and early on 5 November is the best time to catch a glimpse of the meteors.
3. Super Beaver Moon – 4-5 November
The full moon of November is known as the “beaver moon”, a name that stems from old North American traditions where each moon was titled in accordance to seasonal changes. During this month, beavers secure their dams for the winter; hence, the full moon is referred to as the Beaver Moon.
This moon will be the largest full moon of 2025 as it will reach the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit i.e. the moon’s perigee, making it a “supermoon” as well. It will be at peak brightness at 18:49 IST on 5 November.
4. Moon near the Pleiades star cluster – 6 November
On the night of 6 November, the moon and the Pleiades star cluster will appear less than a degree apart (49 arcminutes).
Consisting of over 1,000 young stars, the open star cluster is one of the most recognisable – but only six of its brightest stars are visible without a telescope.
5. The Northern Taurid Meteor Shower – 11-12 November
Like its Southern counterpart, the Northern Taurid Meteor Shower has a low-frequency of five shooting stars per hour. However, the odds of spotting a meteor increase whenever the Taurid showers overlap like they do this year. As per the American Meteorological Society, the meteor shower will peak on the night of 11 November into the morning of 12 November.
Both Taurid meteor showers come from the debris trail of the comet Encke, but the dust has spread wide enough for astronomers to recognise them as two separate meteor streams.
6. The Leonid Meteor Shower – 17-18 November
From 17-18 November, Earth will pass through debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle while the waning crescent moon offers the perfect viewing conditions for the peak of November’s last meteor shower.
While the Leonids are known for their outburst of stars, they produce up to 15 meteors per hour in most years.
7. Micro New Moon – 20 November
The moon will be at its farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit i.e., its apogee on 20 November, creating a “micromoon”. When a full moon reaches apogee, it appears 7% smaller than an average full moon and slightly dimmer to the naked eye.
Since this is a new moon, it’ll be completely dark but with no moonlight, it’s the best night to view more faint, deep-sky objects like star clusters, nebulae, and distant galaxies.
8. Uranus at opposition – 21 November
On 21 November, Uranus will reach opposition and shine at its brightest, lying directly opposite to the Sun in Earth’s sky.
It will be visible at a magnitude of +5.6: with binoculars, it will seem like another star but with a nice telescope, it will appear in its blue-green colour.
9. The Hyades star cluster – 27 November
The open star cluster Hyades will reach its highest point in the sky around midnight, 27 November. It is located in the constellation Taurus and forms a V-shape, resembling the face of a bull.
10. Rising constellations – throughout November
In November, winter constellations return to the Northern Hemisphere and summer constellations return to the Southern Hemisphere, allowing for a prime view of winter constellations like Orion, Canis Major, and Taurus from India.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
