What’s up in the night sky: November 2024

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: bright planets are spread across the evening sky, and an occasionally amazing meteor shower will probably not be very amazing this year.

All month: Super bright Venus is low in the west in the very early evening. 

All month: Yellowish Saturn is up in the evening southeast and visible through much of the night. 

All month: Very bright Jupiter rises in the evening east. 

All month: Reddish Mars rises in the east in the late evening. Watch it brighten considerably over the coming months as Earth and Mars grow closer in their orbits. Mars and Jupiter are in a region of the sky with several of the brightest stars and most recognizable constellations including Orion, Gemini, and Taurus.

Nov. 1: New Moon.

Nov. 4: The crescent Moon is near Venus.

Nov. 10: The Moon is very near Saturn.

Nov. 15: Full Moon.

Nov. 16: The Moon is near Jupiter.

Nov. 17: The Leonid meteor shower peaks. The Leonids are usually a pretty weak shower with occasional small outbursts, and every 33 years or so (not this year), there can be a huge outburst. This year the Leonids will probably have about 15 meteors per hour from a dark site. However, the Moon is almost full at the meteor shower peak, and that will wash out some of the meteors as well. 

Nov. 17: Uranus is at opposition – the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, so a bit brighter than at other times. Uranus is barely visible with just your eyes from a very dark site. Binoculars or a telescope will be needed otherwise to see this blue planet. The nearly full Moon’s light will make observing harder right on this date, but Uranus won’t look much different many days from now, so you can always look for it then.

Nov. 20: The Moon is near Mars.