November Has Some Treats In Store For Astronomy Fans

October has come and gone, and the spookiest month of the year offered some spectacular sites for skywatchers. Last night on Halloween, anyone who looked to the sky would notice the full moon, which was a Blue Moon, and the first in decades on Halloween. October also had an impressive meteor shower that had people outside looking to the heavens.

November also has some celestial events in store for skywatchers to go outside and stare at. November brings two meteor showers and a lunar eclipse. The first of the two meteor showers is the Northern Taurid that will be visible in the nighttime sky between November 11 and 12th. It's a less active meteor shower with only around five meteors per hour expected.

However, the Northern Taurid meteor shower is particularly well known for producing slow and bright fireballs, which could make it more appealing than October's meteor shower to some. Between November 16 and 17th, the Leonid meteor shower peaks and will be very productive with 15 to 20 meteors per hour.

On November 30, the moon will look slightly darker at the end of the month than usual, thanks to a penumbral lunar eclipse. The eclipse will be visible through the Americas, Australia, and most of Asia. There's plenty to keep skywatchers looking to the heavens as we close out 2020.

The lunar eclipse isn't total, so it's not quite as exciting as it could be, but it should be interesting for people to look at any rate. The only challenge to sky watching in November is that at many locations, it's already very cold, but it's a good reason to bundle up and sip on hot chocolate while you look at the stars.