The Sky Today on Sunday, November 15: Mars and Jupiter in conjunction

Two bright planets lie close together in Leo the Lion; through a telescope, Jupiter’s moons are showing off. | Published: November 15, 2026 Io and Europa pass each other as the former heads for a transit and the latter pulls away from their parent planet Jupiter following an occultation early on November 15. Credit: Alison Klesman (via TheSkyX) Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. November 14: Venus and Mercury in Virgo Jupiter and Mars are approaching opposition in February next year. They are now rising late in the evening and dominate the early-morning sky. By 3 A.M. local time, the two planets are 40° high in the east. Mars sits just to the upper left (north) of Jupiter, having passed 1.2° due north of the gas giant late last night, shortly before rising. Both planets sit to the upper right (west) of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion. In addition to spotting the pair of planets together in a telescope, you’ll want to zoom in on Jupiter in particular, as its Galilean moons are showing off this morning. Around 3 A.M. EST, Callisto stands alone west of the planet, with Io (closest) and Ganymede to the east. Twenty-two minutes later (at 3:22 A.M. EST), Io’s shadow appears at the eastern limb and begins to transit. Just over an hour later, with Io closing in on the same limb, Europa pops into view as it reappears from an occultation at 4:27 A.M. EST. It is just south of Io, which passes due north of Europa at 4:34 A.M. EST. Io then begins a transit two minutes later, slowly following its shadow. Io’s shadow reaches the western limb and disappears at 5:38 A.M. EST, while the moon takes a little over an hour to reach the same point, ending its transit at 5:52 A.M. CST (now daylight in the Eastern time zone). Sunrise: 6:45 A.M.Sunset: 4:43 P.M.Moonrise: 12:05 P.M.Moonset: 9:58 P.M.Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (38%)*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location. Alison Klesman is senior editor of Astronomy magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.