Sky Watch, November
November 1, 2025
by Peter Lutken
Made it around to Halloween again, in spite of the craziness all around us! We’re halfway from the Equinox in September to the Solstice in December! Halloween was the “cross-quarter” day for the autumn.
Evening skies: The winter stars, with Jupiter among them, begin to rise around ten. The northern constellation Cassiopeia (which looks like a W) is right overhead this time of year!
Full Moon is on November 5.
Morning skies: Venus is disappearing behind the sun. The winter stars with Jupiter are high in the sky and moving west. The Big Dipper and Leo are rising in the north and east.
Quarry/Outdoors: Late Monarchs are still fluttering through, but they’ll all head south soon. This month, the trees will replace their orange with fall colors of their own!
Migrating ducks and hawks are all over the place. The photo is of a Great Blue Heron hunting in fall leaves.
When “the world is too much with us,” it’s time to stop, head outside, and take in the fall: one of the most beautiful times of the year in Dallas.
When I was 15, I had the incredible luck to stumble onto a Monarch roost on White Rock Creek while camping. There were thousands, and I’ve been interested in them ever since.
I used to talk about them in Chapel every fall and help Mrs. Hammond and Mrs. Baker (1st grade teachers) with their Monarch Project.
If you enjoy seeing them as much as I do, you’ll love the recent New York Times article linked below. It’s incredible, just like the butterflies!
PKL
