Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), formerly known as SWAN25B, is a long-period comet discovered on September 11, 2025, in the constellation Virgo. It was better seen from the southern hemisphere, where it was higher in the sky after sunset. Photo: MPAS member Guido Tack
Highlights this month
- 2SunThe Moon passes Saturn — 3° apart. (7:00pm)
- 5WedSouthern Taurids meteor shower peaks (up to 5/hr). A bright 100% Moon interferes badly this year.
- 10MonMercury is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (10:20am)
- 10MonThe Moon passes Jupiter — 4° apart. (8:34pm)
- 12WedJupiter is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (5:30am)
- 17MonLeonids meteor shower peaks (up to 15/hr). A thin 8% Moon leaves the sky dark.
- 20ThuMercury in inferior conjunction with the Sun — lost in the glare. (8:18pm)
- 21FriUranus at opposition — closest and brightest of the year, up all night in Taurus (mag 5.6). (11:40pm)
- 29SatSaturn is stationary — resumes direct (eastward) motion. (9:31am)
- 30SunMercury is stationary — resumes direct (eastward) motion. (2:09am)
- 30SunThe Moon passes Saturn — 3° apart. (3:14am)
In November, the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius are slowly leaving our night skies to be replaced by Orion and its nebulae, and the bright star Sirius. Looking towards the direction of the celestial pole you can find the constellations Reticulum, the Net; Hydrus, the Little Water Snake; Tucana, the Toucan; and Octans, the Octant, while Crux, the Southern Cross, grazes the southern horizon before rising again in summer.
There is a lot to see this month with just the unaided eye or basic equipment. Look for the Large Magellanic Cloud west of the constellation Pictor, and the Small Magellanic Cloud in Tucana. These are both irregular galaxies close to the Milky Way. A small telescope is all you need to explore the sparkling star clusters as well as the Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070, nestled within the LMC. The globular cluster 47 Tucanae can be seen with the naked eye as a hazy star very close to the SMC. A large-aperture telescope shows its countless stars packed together in a dense ball. Looking towards the northeast, the Hyades and Pleiades open star clusters make excellent binocular targets.
The Leonid meteor shower is active each November, and this year the Leonids will peak overnight between November17-18. The shower is called Leonids because its radiant, or the point in the sky from which the meteors seem to emerge, lies in the constellation Leo. The Leonids occur when the Earth passes through the debris left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which takes about 33 years to make one orbit of the sun.
This month’s conjunctions, which is when two astronomical objects appear close to each other in the sky, include the moon with Saturn on November 2, then with Jupiter on November 10; Mercury with Mars on November 13; and the moon with Mars on November 21, then with Saturn on November 30.
By Nerida Langcake
This article appeared in the November 2025 issue of the Mornington Peninsula Magazine.
The sky in detail — November 2025
Sun & twilight
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length | Astro. dark begins | ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 1 | 6:12am | 7:55pm | 13h 43m | 9:34pm | 4:34am |
| Mon 10 | 6:03am | 8:05pm | 14h 02m | 9:48pm | 4:20am |
| Thu 20 | 5:55am | 8:16pm | 14h 21m | 10:04pm | 4:08am |
| Sun 30 | 5:51am | 8:27pm | 14h 36m | 10:19pm | 3:59am |
Days lengthen by about 53 minutes over the month.
The Moon
- Full Moon SupermoonThu 6, 12:23am
- Last QuarterWed 12, 4:26pm
- New MoonThu 20, 5:51pm
- First QuarterFri 28, 6:03pm
Perigee 6 Nov (356,900 km) · Apogee 20 Nov (406,300 km)
The planets
Rise/set for mid-month at The Briars.
| Planet | In | Mag | Rise | Transit | Set | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Sco | 2.1 | 6:35am | 1:51pm | 9:07pm | Hidden |
| Venus | Lib | −3.7 | 5:28am | 12:15pm | 7:03pm | Hidden |
| Mars | Sco | 1.4 | 6:47am | 2:05pm | 9:23pm | Hidden |
| Jupiter | Gem | −2.2 | 12:41am | 5:32am | 10:23am | Morning |
| Saturn | Psc | 0.9 | 3:13pm | 9:27pm | 3:46am | Evening |
| Uranus | Tau | 5.6 | 8:34pm | 1:34am | 6:31am | All night |
| Neptune | Psc | 7.8 | 3:35pm | 9:41pm | 3:52am | Evening |
Meteor showers
- Southern Taurids — peaks 5 November, radiant in Taurus (up to 5/hr). Sparse but rich in slow fireballs over a long, broad maximum. A bright 100% Moon interferes badly this year.
- Leonids — peaks 17 November, radiant in Leo (up to 15/hr). Fast meteors; the radiant rises after midnight and is moderate from the south. A thin 8% Moon leaves the sky dark.
Computed for The Briars, Mt Martha. Times are local (Melbourne).
Generated automatically from the MPAS sky engine on 15 July 2026.
The solar system — November 2025
Evening sky Morning sky Up much of the night Lost in the Sun’s glare
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