This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 Nov 15 – Nov 22
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 Nov 15 – Nov 22
Stock market-minded astronomers could be inspired by looking to the northeast after twilight. On evenings in mid-May, Ursa Major the Great Bear is high overhead, dominating the sky. Taurus the Bull, meanwhile, sets early, and then we have several months of a bear market for stargazing. Later sunsets and extended twilight, with the compounded interest of daylight time, means sparse hours for viewing the summer night sky. Now that we are well beyond the autumnal equinox and have returned to standard time, early darkness reveals the Great Bear reaching bottom to the north after sunset, and the Celestial Bull rising in the east. We are entering the bull market phase of stargazing.
Although we lose the globular clusters and nebulae that abound within the Milky Way areas of Scorpius, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, we can still observe the summer treasures near Lyra and Cygnus before they set. The autumn constellations of Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus are peaking in mid-evening, ceding their reign to the bright stars and open clusters of winter’s Taurus, Orion and his dogs, Auriga and Gemini by midnight. Early risers can start on the springtime galaxies in Leo and Virgo before morning twilight. For stargazers, as the carol goes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Invest some time in observing the night sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:20 and sunset will occur at 4:46, giving 9 hours, 26 minutes of daylight (7:23 and 4:54 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:29 and set at 4:40, giving 9 hours, 11 minutes of daylight (7:32 and 4:48 in Saint John).
The waning crescent Moon is near Spica in Virgo Monday morning, with Venus rising to their lower left around 6:20. New Moon occurs on Thursday. Saturn will be at its best for observing around 8 pm, with Jupiter rising a half hour later. A Jovian treat for telescope users occurs Thursday when the shadow of its moon Io overtakes that of Callisto from 9:33 to 11:47. Mars is too close to the Sun for viewing, while Mercury reaches inferior conjunction on Thursday. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Monday, best seen in the morning with the Sickle of Leo high in the south-southeast.
Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.