Full moon comes on November 12, 2019, as the moon is sweeping through the constellation Taurus the Bull. This full moon comes on the peak night of the North Taurid meteor shower.

November 3 brings the year’s earliest noon – or midday – by nature’s clock. The earliest solar noon is a harbinger of the year’s earliest sunset in the Northern Hemisphere and earliest sunrise in the Southern Hemisphere. Both take place before the December 22 solstice.

Although a modest shower, perhaps offering 5 meteors per hour, the Taurid shower lasts over a month and is known for producing dramatic fireballs.

See 3 bright planets – Saturn, Jupiter and Venus – after sunset. Jupiter and Venus will meet up for conjunction on November 24. Mercury transits the sun on November 11. Mars rises in the east, shortly before the sun.

Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome said he just managed to capture an image of a small asteroid – labeled 2019 UB8 – coming very close on October 29, at about half the moon’s distance. Details here.

Venus passes its descending node on Friday at 2 UTC. What is it? And why does astronomer Guy Ottewell say that nodes “shape the orbits of the moving bodies and set them up for whatever else happens” … ?

Charts and insights about this week’s Orionid meteor shower from astronomer Guy Ottewell.

Details on the annual Orionid meteor shower.  How and when to watch. In 2019, the peak mornings are probably October 21 or 22. But try watching now, before dawn, despite a bright moon.

Northern and Southern Hemisphere views of Venus from October 2019 to June 2020, and some insights on the coming view of Venus in the evening sky.

The coming full moon – Hunter’s Moon for the Northern Hemisphere – is October 12-13. Will it be bigger, brighter, more colorful? All you need to know here.

The stars are accessible to everyone, but where can you get the most from the night sky? Here are 10 great dark-sky places – mostly in the U.S. but also in Australia, New Zealand and Chile – for skywatching and stargazing.