The Sundarban
November kicks off with Mercury making a brilliant evening appearance, then continues with not one, but three meteor showers. The largest fleshy moon of the year rises early in the month, while a later “micro” unique moon affords ideal darkness for harder-to-location constellations admire Orion and Taurus.
Here are 10 celestial events to watch for in November—and when to contemplate up to catch them.
Mercury reaches its best altitude in the evening sky—November 1–2
The smallest planet in our solar plan is notoriously complicated to location. Its orbit retains it extremely shut to the solar, which means the solar’s light can drown it out—not to mention it’s handiest visible around low on the horizon around sunset or break of day. But on the primary evenings of November, Mercury climbs to its best point in the night sky, offering one of many supreme chances all year to see it with the naked note.
Exactly how high is depending to your location: Mercury will appear greater in the night sky the closer you salvage to the equator, while high-latitude destinations may not see Mercury at all.
The Southern Taurid meteor shower peaks—November 4–5
The Southern Taurid Meteor Bathe has two peaks: the primary is in mid-October, and the second is in early November. Whereas this is typically a low-frequency meteor shower, around 5 shooting stars per hour, 2025 is expected to be a kind of rare fireball swarm years, when exceptionally gleaming meteors—some shining brighter than Venus—remove darkness from the sky. The easiest time to contemplate up is the night of November 4 into the early hours of November 5.
A Taurid meteor streaks over Yamdrok Lake, one of Tibet’s three sacred lakes, in November 2015. The annual Taurid meteor showers appear each November as Earth passes via particles left behind by Comet Encke—once in a while producing spectacular fireballs.
Jeff Dai, Science Photo Library
Super “beaver moon”—November 4–5
November’s fleshy moon reaches peak brightness at 13:19 UTC on November 5, although it may maybe appear fleshy on the nights of November 4 and 5. Known as the “beaver moon,” the name comes from seasonal traditions—when beavers make stronger their dams for winter and, historically, trappers once sought their thickest pelts.
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(How to watch the rare streak of 3 supermoons happening back-to-back.)
It’s also a “supermoon,” which occurs when the fleshy moon coincides with the moon’s perigee, or the point in its orbit when it’s closest to Earth. As a consequence, it may maybe appear a little bit of larger and brighter than a typical fleshy moon—the largest fleshy moon of 2025.
Shut approach of the moon and the Pleiades—November 6
Fair after the fleshy moon, the moon passes shut to the Pleiades star cluster—also identified as Messier Forty five—on the night of November 6. The 2 will appear less than a diploma apart in the night sky—49 arcminutes, to be exact.
The Pleiades is an begin star cluster made up of extra than 1,000 scorching, young stars. Known as the Seven Sisters, it kinds one of many sky’s most recognizable patterns—regardless that handiest six of its brightest stars are typically visible to the naked note.
The Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks — November 11–12
The second meteor shower of the month, the Northern Taurids, is expected to peak on the night of November 11 into the morning of November 12, per the American Meteorological Society. Love the Southern Taurids, this meteor shower is relatively weak, with an average rate of legal 5 shooting stars per hour. When the 2 showers overlap as they finish in 2025, nonetheless, the chances of gleaming fireballs increase.
(This rare green comet won’t return for a thousand years. Here’s how to see it this week.)
Both Taurid meteor showers share the same source material: the particles trail of the comet Encke. Over time, the comet’s mud trail has spread wide ample to create two separate but overlapping meteor streams.
Leonid meteor shower peaks — November 17–18
The Leonid Meteor Bathe is expected to peak overnight from November 17 to 18, when Earth passes via particles from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The waning crescent moon will probably be legal 9 percent fleshy, offering dark prerequisites for this late-autumn display.
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The Leonids are famous for their historic outbursts of shooting stars, but in most years and in all probability in 2025, they make a steady snarl of up to 15 meteors per hour below ideal prerequisites.
A Leonid meteor streaks past the Pleiades star cluster in the skies above Joshua Tree National Park in 2001. The annual Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17, when Earth passes via particles from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, sending fast-moving mud particles blazing via our atmosphere.
Walter Pacholka, Astropics/Science Photo Library
A micro unique moon—November 20
The unique moon on November 20 occurs near lunar apogee, the farthest point in the moon’s orbit from Earth, making it a so-called “micro” unique moon. Of course, because it’s a unique moon, you won’t be able to see the moon at all—it’ll appear totally dark in the night sky, with handiest its far aspect illuminated by the solar.
(These are the sector’s easiest stargazing spots.)
But with out a moonlight to interfere, it’s the supreme night of the month for viewing faint deep-sky objects—such as star clusters, nebulae, and distant galaxies—with the naked note, binoculars, or a backyard telescope.
Uranus at opposition—November 21
The farthest planet in our solar plan, Uranus, reaches opposition on November 21, when it lies straight opposite the solar in Earth’s sky. This means the planet will shine at its brightest, though it’s restful fairly sad.
At magnitude +5.6,
