What to See in the November 2026 Night Sky

Choose a night by what you want to see

Swipe the table horizontally to view every column.

References[1][2][3][4][6]

Three meteor-shower dates, three different expectations

The American Meteor Society's 2026–2027 calendar gives U.S.-oriented peak-night labels of Nov. 4–5 for the Southern Taurids, Nov. 11–12 for the Northern Taurids and Nov. 16–17 for the Leonids. The International Meteor Organization independently places the Taurid maxima around Nov. 5 and Nov. 12 and the Leonid maximum on Nov. 17. AMS lists activity windows beyond the peak nights: Southern Taurids through Nov. 20, Northern Taurids through Dec. 10 and Leonids Nov. 6–30. A shower can be worth watching on more than one night; the peak is not an appointment when meteors are guaranteed.

The Taurids are slow, low-rate showers that can produce bright fireballs. Treat 'fireball-rich' as a description of the kind of bright meteor sometimes reported, not a prediction that a fireball or enhanced swarm will happen on your outing. The November Leonids are not an annual meteor storm: their famous storms are rare, and this planner makes no 2026 storm prediction.

These dates are planning labels, not location-specific peak instants. Peak timing may be expressed in UTC and appear on a neighboring civil date in another time zone. Radiant height, latitude, clouds, twilight, Moon altitude, light pollution and random variation all change what an observer sees. Watch with unaided eyes across a broad sky and plan for quiet gaps; do not turn a published zenithal hourly rate into a personal count.

References[1][2]

Use the Moon phase as a clue, then check your local sky

The U.S. Naval Observatory's phase table gives New Moon at 07:02 UTC on Nov. 9, first quarter at 11:48 UTC on Nov. 17 and Full Moon at 14:53 UTC on Nov. 24. These are phase instants in Universal Time, not a promise of darkness for an entire local night. In the contiguous U.S., the New Moon instant is 11:02 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Nov. 8 and after midnight on Nov. 9 in the other time zones.

The Nov. 9 New Moon is a useful starting point for planning a darker-sky session, while lunar interference grows later in the month. For each actual outing, check local moonrise and moonset, astronomical twilight, cloud cover and your unobstructed horizon. A dark Moon cannot clear clouds or remove artificial skyglow; a bright Moon mainly makes faint stars and meteors harder to see rather than making all observing pointless.

References[3][1]

Uranus at opposition: a telescope-side challenge, not a naked-eye promise

NASA's 2026 sky-event list places Uranus at opposition on Nov. 25. Opposition marks the planet's position opposite the Sun in our sky; it is a date marker for a broader observing opportunity, not the only night to try. In 2026 it follows the Nov. 24 Full Moon, so the opposition date is not a dark-sky window.

Use a finder chart as a short checklist: set it to your observing location, date and planned time; match its field of view and orientation to your binoculars or telescope; then compare Uranus's neighboring-star pattern with the real field. NASA describes Uranus as faint and recommends a telescope; binoculars can help locate the charted field, while a modest telescope shows only a tiny disk—not spacecraft-style detail. If the field is low, blocked by trees or buildings, still in twilight, or washed out by the near-Full Moon, try another nearby evening and check the Moon's local rise/set and Uranus's position again. A date or chart cannot guarantee a clear or visible target.

References[4][5][3]

Mercury around greatest western elongation

Fred Espenak's GMT almanac lists Mercury at greatest elongation on Nov. 20 at 23:00 GMT (UTC), 19.6° west of the Sun. Its published accuracy for Mercury greatest-elongation times is ±30 minutes. Western elongation is a morning-star appearance, but the listed instant is not a local viewing appointment. Sky Event Almanacs Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.AstroPixels.com.

Mercury stays close to the Sun and appears near sunrise or sunset. Use the U.S. Naval Observatory's topocentric configuration tool or a current sky chart for your location and intended pre-sunrise time; check Mercury's altitude/azimuth, twilight, and an unobstructed horizon. Do not assume the planet is high or visible just because the elongation date is published.

Try only if a location-specific chart shows Mercury above your unobstructed horizon before sunrise. A naked-eye check may be enough, but visibility is not guaranteed. If using binoculars or a telescope, stop optical searching before sunrise and never point optics at or near the Sun; NASA warns unfiltered solar viewing through optics can cause severe eye injury. Check a local forecast close to the session; this page does not predict November weather.

References[6][7][8][9]

Plan the astronomy now; check conditions near the night

Astronomical dates can be planned months ahead; a useful local cloud forecast cannot. Today's conditions are not a forecast for a November date. Open the current stargazing forecast only when it covers the night you intend to go, read its timestamp and location, and check again before leaving. A clear forecast also cannot confirm that a park is open, a gate is unlocked or roadside parking is safe.

Start with a familiar, permitted observing place and a broad view of the sky. Reconsider a longer drive only if the forecast and Moon window are still favorable at the destination and its night access is verified. If clouds or fatigue make the outing unsafe or impractical, skip it; an event's active window may offer another night, but no alternative guarantees a clear sky.

Scope and date limits

This guide covers selected U.S.-oriented meteor and planet opportunities in November 2026; it is not a complete list of occultations or location-specific sky events. Source dates may use UTC while the viewing night uses a local civil date. Check a chart for your location and intended hour, and confirm the event calendar if a source has been revised.

The dates on this page apply to November 2026 only. If you are planning a later month, use the current astronomy calendar and the current event-detail pages rather than treating this month's list as an upcoming schedule.

References[1][3][4]

Open the detail pages and current planning tools

For shower-specific observing notes, open the Southern Taurids event page, Northern Taurids event page or Leonids event page. The meteor shower calendar and astronomy calendar help compare other dates without turning this selected November list into a complete catalog.

Before choosing where and when to go, open the current stargazing forecast for your actual location and intended night. The guide to moonlight and stargazing explains how lunar glare changes faint-target visibility; the telescope guide helps set expectations for a faint planet such as Uranus.

References[1][3]