Today's Image

The moon and Jupiter play hide-and-seek. More pics here!

Posted by
Kelly Kizer Whitt
and
November 5, 2026
3 views of striped Jupiter disappearing behind the gray-white limb of the moon.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Michael Teoh in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, captured this view of Jupiter disappearing behind the moon on the morning of November 3, 2026. Thank you, Michael! Read more about these images of the moon and Jupiter below.

The moon and Jupiter play hide-and-seek

On the morning of November 3, 2026, observers in parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand saw the moon and Jupiter appear so close in the sky that the moon briefly blocked Jupiter from view. Astronomers call this a lunar occultation. And it’ll happen again at the end of the month!

In November, Jupiter is rising very late at night and staying visible until sunrise. The king of the planets is currently close to the red planet, Mars, and the brightest star in Leo the Lion, Regulus. Throughout November, Jupiter and Mars will appear closer and closer on the sky’s dome until they reach their closest on November 15. On that date, they’ll be a little more than two moon-widths apart.

Plus, these planets will be right in front of the radiant point of the Leonid meteor shower! That’s the point which all Leonid meteors appear to shoot from. This shower will reach its peak on November 17-18, not long after Jupiter and Mars reach their closest.

After the Jupiter-Mars conjunction, don’t stop watching! Because even as these worlds slowly pull apart again, Mars will first cross the distance between Jupiter and Regulus to form a tight triplet in the sky, and then the moon will return to the scene.

On November 29 and 30, look for the moon close to Jupiter, with Mars and Regulus below. Lucky observers in southern parts of the globe, including southern Argentina and Chile, will see the moon pass in front of Jupiter on November 30.

Chart showing a fat hemisphere, the moon, on two successive morning. On the first, it is right of a large dot, Jupiter, which is right of two dots, Mars, and the star Regulus. On the second morning, the hemisphere is below a large dot, Jupiter, and next to two dots, Mars, and the star Regulus.
The moon will be high in the east before dawn on the last 2 mornings of November. Jupiter, Mars and the bright star Regulus will be nearby. On November 30, some observers will see the moon pass in front of Jupiter. Chart via EarthSky.

Jupiter disappearing and reappearing

Michael Teoh in Malaysia captured the first lunar occultation of Jupiter in early November. He also managed to captured two of Jupiter’s moons!

Top panels show striped planet disappearing behind moon's limb; bottom shows it reemerging from dark side.
View larger at EarthSky Community Photos. | Michael Teoh in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, captured this view of Jupiter disappearing and then reappearing from behind the moon on the morning of November 3, 2026. Michael wrote: “During this lunar occultation of Jupiter, 2 Galilean moons were visible. At the ingress phase (top row), Io trails to the west of Jupiter, while Europa transits across the surface of Jupiter. But at this point, Europa wasn’t visible due to the limitation of the resolution, poor seeing conditions and low contrast against the Jovian disk. At the egress phase (bottom row), the trailing Io was still blocked by the moon, while Europa appears exiting the eastern limb of Jupiter, thanks to the much improved seeing condition and better contrast against the darker Jovian limb.” Click here to see a larger version. Thank you, Michael!

More EarthSky Community Photos

On the left is the cratered moon; on the right is distant Jupiter with faint horizontal stripes.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Atharva Maurya captured this stunning close-up from Bhadohi, India. Thank you, Atharva!
A bright, vertically aligned stack shows the glowing moon, Jupiter and Mars in a starry sky.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jelieta Walinski in the Desert Bloom Observatory, Arizona, captured the moon, Jupiter and Mars. She wrote: “Sometimes, astrophotography teaches us that capturing the universe is not always about magnification. Sometimes, we must widen our perspective to appreciate the bigger picture.” Thank you, Jelieta!
Green tree branches frame the glowing white moon, blue Regulus, bright Jupiter and reddish Mars.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Look at those colors! Gail Gunstone in Loreto, Mexico, wrote: “Mars, Jupiter, Regulus and the moon by my mango tree.” What a delicious photo. Thank you, Gail!

Bottom line: The moon and Jupiter played hide-and-seek on November 3, 2026. And they’ll pair up again at the end of the month! Plus, don’t miss the Jupiter-Mars conjunction mid-month.

 For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide.

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Posted 
November 5, 2026
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Today's Image

Kelly Kizer Whitt

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About the Author:
Kelly Kizer Whitt writes and edits some of the most fascinating stories at EarthSky.org. She's been writing about science, with a focus on astronomy, for decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine and made regular contributions to other outlets, including AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club. She has nine published books, including a children's picture book, Solar System Forecast, and a young adult dystopian novel, A Different Sky.

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