By Erich Karkoschka
Saturn is transiting around 9 pm, later this month at 8 pm, ideally suited for evening observations. Its rings can open up to 27 degrees. In July they were open by only 3 degrees. During the second half of November it is only a minuscule 0.2 degrees. Since they are will illuminated, they show up as a line of no thickness in a telescope. The line has brighter and dimmer parts as the different rings have different brightness.
Neptune is only 4 degrees to the northeast of Saturn. Saturn will pass it on Friday November 16, finishing the triple conjunction between both planets this opposition period. The last one was 1989. The following conjunction in 2061 will be single.
Uranus is in opposition on November 21st. This is the closest opposition to the Pleiades, only 4 degrees to the south. This happens once every 84 years.
Jupiter rises around 9 pm, becoming a better evening object. It is close to Pollux in Gemini.
Venus rises around 6 am during twilight. It remains low before the sun comes up.
Mercury will start its best apparition of 2025 on November 28, lasting for a whole month, rising even before dawn starts.
The first sighting of the moon after New Moon will be on November 21st. It will be difficult to see, even though it is well illuminated two days after new Moon. However, its extreme southern declination of -29 degrees gives it a low elevation above the southwestern horizon.
Comet Lemmon is still a bright comet of magnitude 5 with a significant tail. It sets around 8 pm in Ophiuchus, but this time gets earlier every day by 5 minutes. Its days of visibility are soon over.