{"id":664531,"date":"2026-11-02T12:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T12:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/664531\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T12:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T12:22:20","slug":"mars-and-jupiter-are-close-together-like-a-double-star-this-month-how-to-see-the-planet-conjunction-and-close-approach-november-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/664531\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars and Jupiter are close together like a double star this month. How to see the planet conjunction and close approach, November 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been observing two bright stars in the southeast before sunrise recently, what you’ve actually been looking at is Mars and Jupiter, two planets that are absolutely beautiful right now.<\/p>\n

The two planets will continue to get closer and closer together throughout November 2026, culminating in their closest approach on 14-17 November.<\/p>\n

And they’ll be visited by the Moon at the beginning and the start of the month, too.<\/p>\n

Here’s our guide to observing Mars, Jupiter and the Moon in November 2026.<\/p>\n

\"Artist'sCredit: m-gucci \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"DiagramDiagram showing the location of Mars, Jupiter and the Moon, 2 November 2026. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been an impressive morning line-up building for a few weeks now, thanks mostly to Mars catching up with Jupiter.<\/p>\n

At the start of November 2026, the pair are 5.7\u00b0 apart, which is about the width of your middle three fingers held together at arm’s lenght.<\/p>\n

Mars and Jupiter form \u2013 along with Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo \u2013 the western half of an odd Orion\u2019s Belt-type configuration.<\/p>\n

That’s to say, all three objects appear in a line, roughly equally spaced.<\/p>\n

\"UsingUsing your hand outstretched at arm’s length, your fingers can be used to estimate degrees of distance in the night sky.<\/p>\n

Here are the key dates.<\/p>\n

On 1 November, the Moon will be in line with Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n

With a 57%-lit gibbous phase, in the early hours the Moon will dominate the view, but Jupiter won\u2019t be far behind, shining at mag. \u20131.9. Mars will be dimmer at mag. +0.9, with Regulus<\/a> the dimmest at mag. +1.3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also on the morning of 1 November, the Moon sits 7.5\u00b0 west of M44, the Beehive Cluster<\/a>, occulting the cluster later that afternoon after the pair have set (as seen from the UK).<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s a second, better chance to see a lunar occultation of this cluster on the night of 28 November.<\/p>\n

On the morning of 2 November, the waning Moon, now 46% lit, will have slid closer to Mars, the line-up of Regulus, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon forming quite an impressive straight line, again of roughly equally spaced objects.<\/p>\n

On the morning of 3 November, the Moon, now a 35%-lit crescent, will sit just south of the mid-point between Jupiter and Regulus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MarsMars and Jupiter are at their closest together mid November 2026. Credit: Stellarium
\nMars and Jupiter’s closest approach this month<\/p>\n

On the morning of 4 November, as the Moon starts to move out of the group, Mars seizes the opportunity to slide ever closer to Jupiter, passing around a degree north of the gas giant on the mornings of 14\u201317 November.<\/p>\n

On these dates, Mars will be a tad brighter at mag. +0.7. Jupiter too will have brightened, now shining to mag. \u20132.0, both increases adding to the drama of the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tight isosceles triangle formed mid-month changes shape quite rapidly over the days that follow, as Mars continues to slip east past Jupiter and closer to Regulus.<\/p>\n

On the morning of 22 November, the triangle formed by all three objects fits inside a circle less than 4\u00b0 across.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DiagramDiagram showing the location of Mars, Jupiter and the Moon, 22 November 2026. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n

On 26 November, Mars has switched sides completely, now forming the narrow base of another isosceles triangle, this time with Regulus.<\/p>\n

This fascinating pattern continues to entertain right into the beginning of December 2026, when it can be seen rising before midnight UT.<\/p>\n

If you get clear mornings during November, try to capture a few photos of the arrangement.<\/p>\n

If you compare your photos over the days, you\u2019ll see just how much things change from one morning to the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Share your Mars, Jupiter and Moon images and observations with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’ve been observing two bright stars in the southeast before sunrise recently, what you’ve actually been looking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-664531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}