Leonid meteors, Mars beside Jupiter and a supermoon: what to see in the sky in late November 2026

NASA's November skywatching guide points to three sights in the second half of the month: Mars and Jupiter close together before dawn on November 15 and 16, the Leonid meteor shower around November 17, and a full supermoon on November 24. NASA's viewing advice for the planets and the meteors is for the hours before sunrise, local time. The full Moon itself falls at 14:53 UTC on November 24, according to the US Naval Observatory.

Three details show that NASA's pages are written with skywatchers in the United States and the Northern Hemisphere in mind. The monthly guide, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, gives its Moon phase chart in Pacific Time; the Leonid page tells viewers to "come prepared for winter temperatures"; and NASA's Moon phase page describes the phases as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Directions such as southeast before sunrise come from these pages, and none of them says from which parts of the world each sight is best. The viewing dates in this article are NASA's. The dates and UTC times of the Moon's phases come from the Naval Observatory, whose Moon phase table gives its times in Universal Time. Where NASA gives a time of its own, the article says so.

Mars and Jupiter, November 15-16

On the mornings of November 15 and 16, NASA suggests looking southeast before sunrise for Mars and Jupiter, which it says will appear about 1.2 degrees apart. By NASA's comparison, that is slightly wider than two full Moons placed edge to edge. Jupiter will be the brighter of the two and Mars the reddish one, and NASA says neither needs binoculars or a telescope.

The pairing is an effect of perspective. NASA points out that the two planets are still far apart in space, and that watching over several mornings shows them drawing closer together and then moving apart again.

The Leonids, November 16-18

The Leonids are active from November 6 to November 30 this year, according to NASA's page on the shower, which gives the peak night as November 16-17. NASA's November guide points instead to the early hours of November 17 and 18, after the Moon has set. The Naval Observatory puts first quarter at 11:48 UTC on November 17, and NASA's Moon phase page says a first quarter Moon sets around the middle of the night.

The two NASA pages also differ on rates. The monthly guide says the shower could produce around 15 meteors an hour under ideal conditions, and that most viewers will see fewer. The Leonid page lists fewer than three an hour under dark skies, and says rates are often as low as about three an hour. Neither page gives a peak time in UTC. NASA's advice is in local time: the Leonids are best seen from about midnight, and the display lasts until dawn.

The meteors are debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which takes 33 years to go around the Sun. NASA ranks the Leonids among the fastest meteors, at about 44 miles (71 kilometers) per second in the text of its page; the fact table on the same page gives 43.5 miles (69.7 kilometers) per second. They are bright, can be colorful, and are known for fireballs and for Earth-grazers, long-tailed meteors that streak close to the horizon.

About every 33 years, the Leonids can turn into a storm, which NASA defines as at least 1,000 meteors an hour. Viewers in 1966 saw thousands a minute over a 15-minute stretch, NASA says, and the most recent Leonid storm came in 2002.

NASA's page says the meteors can be seen all across the sky rather than only near the constellation Leo, where they appear to come from, and that those seen away from Leo look longer. For watching, it advises a spot well away from city lights, and it says the eyes adapt to the dark in less than 30 minutes.

A supermoon on November 24

The Moon is full at 14:53 UTC on November 24, according to the Naval Observatory; NASA's supermoon page lists the same full Moon at 14:54 UTC. NASA counts it as a supermoon because the full Moon comes close to perigee, the point in the Moon's orbit nearest Earth. The word is not an official astronomical term, NASA notes, and is usually applied to a full Moon that comes within at least 90 percent of perigee.

At its closest, a full Moon can look up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the faintest Moon of the year, which comes when the Moon is farthest away, according to NASA, though it says a 14 percent difference in size is hard to detect. A supermoon can also bring higher tides than usual. NASA's guide suggests looking east around sunset to watch the Moon rise.

November's full Moon is the first of three supermoons in a row, in November, December and January, according to the guide. NASA's supermoon page and the Naval Observatory both put the next full Moon at 01:28 UTC on December 24.

The dates at a glance

NASA's list of notable sky events for 2026 also has Uranus at opposition on November 25. The list gives only the date, with no advice on how or where to see it.