As we go into November, the chances of cloud and rain increase, but at least we have lost the October haze. So, when the sky is clear, take the opportunity to enjoy being under a starry sky.
On 5 November, the Milk Full Moon will be the middle of a series of three supermoons. It will be the largest and hence brightest of the three. It rises about an hour later every night so by 8 November there will be an opportunity for those of us with telescopes to look for “faint fuzzies” in the deep sky before the Moon interferes.
Mars, getting very low in the west after sunset, is about to disappear behind the Sun as we overtake it like a faster runner on an inside track. The fastest planetary runner is Mercury which is visible in the west after sunset just below the head of Scorpius. It is just about to pass in front of the Sun and will re-appear in the pre-dawn sky by month end. Saturn is well up in the eastern sky in the evening. Jupiter rises around midnight and is high overhead by dawn. Venus is very low in the east before dawn. On 25 November, Venus and Mercury will be very close to each other in the eastern sky before sunrise.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks on 17 November. In some years the Leonids give a meteor storm, but not this year. Predicted peak is 10 per hour if Leo is directly overhead (not for us in Zimbabwe, Leo is quite far north) and under a dark sky. If you look between 2 am and dawn you might catch some of the bright fireballs for which the Leonids are known.
If you look low in the north-west after sunset, the brightest star you will see is Vega, seeming to hang from a delicate trapezium of stars that is its constellation Lyra, the lyre. Extend a line from Vega through that trapezium and high up you will see 3 stars in a line, the middle of the three is brightest. It is Altair in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. Aquila lies close to the celestial equator, and it rises due east and sets due west – a good direction finder when the Southern Cross is not visible.
If you would like to learn the constellations, get a sky chart, find a constellation that you can easily identify (for example Lyra or Aquila) and learn the constellations around it. It will not take long before you will be able to identify most of the constellations that are up. The stars rise 4 minutes earlier each night so with each month there is a new set of constellations in the east. It is a wonderful thing to be able to look up at a night sky and know what you are seeing. I find it deeply therapeutic!
Keep looking up!
Peter Morris of the Astronomical Society of Harare
31 October 2025