Skynotes: November 2026

Unique supernova symmetry

About 7,500 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia supernova SN1181 occurred and was recorded in historical records of Chinese, Japanese and Arabic astronomers. Supernovae come in various forms. This was a rare type and has proven unique in its post-explosion form. In 2013 citizen science likely identified the source at the centre of the expanding material, known as Pa 30. It comprises an unexpected surviving core – dubbed a zombie star - and a vast remnant of expanding material. While a supernova often leaves behind an outward moving remnant, this case is highly unusual. SN1181 is thought to have resulted from two in-spiralling white dwarfs that generated a rare symmetrical explosion. More powerful supernova either destroy their star entirely or catapult them well away from their original location. However, this lesser-energy event seems to have left as Pa 30 a central core and a symmetrical pattern of radial filaments containing numerous ‘beads’.

A new paper in the Astrophysical Journal has examined in fine detail these numerous beaded radial filaments which together resemble a celebratory starburst or dandelion head.

These ‘beads-on-a-string’ are uniform in size each far larger than our solar system. The Gemini North Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has revealed fine details, and it is hoped the Hubble Space Telescope can do even better. The beads seem to consist of gas from the explosion that is concentrated and shaped into uniform nodules by the density and temperature of the interstellar medium though which it is passing.

Pa 30’s radial filaments appear like the knotted cords or Quipus (Khipu) of the Inca which encode a unique form of record-keeping. Pa 30’s celestial cords are providing their own unique encoded information about rare supernova processes.

Image: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Not unlike a celebratory festival explosion or dandelion head wafted into the night sky, supernova SN 1181 left as remnant behind - Pa30 shows in orange a myriad of beaded streams of ejecta. Several foreground stars cannot obscure the spectacular phenomenon, the result of an historical supernova recorded by Chinese, Japanese and Arabic skywatchers in August 1181.

Image: Cunningham et al ApJ 2026 Fig1

Pa30’s filaments and their solar system sized beads or knots seen in increasing detail from top left to top right, and lower left to lower right.

Explore

• Like Pearls in the Sky
• Fireworks in the Sky: Gemini North Reveals Pearl-Like Knots in the Remnant of a Supernova
• Different types of supernovae explained
• Furious Finale

Melbourne Sun times 

*When the sun is at its highest, crossing the meridian or local longitude.  

Moon Phases

Moon Distance

Saturday 14th is lunar apogee (furthest from Earth) at 405,619 km.

Thursday 26th is lunar perigee (nearest to Earth) at 359,347 km.

Planets

Mercury has just gone through inferior solar conjunction passing between Earth and the Sun, but is still too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

Venus is now visible after passing in front of the Sun for its inferior solar conjunction. It is visible in the east in the early morning from 4:45am before fading ahead of sunrise, and appear a little earlier each morning. By late November, Venus will rise around 4am.

Mars has now moved into view from behind the Sun and is visible before dawn at 2:30am in the east, rising in the north-east until lost in dawn’s early light. Each night Mars will rise earlier until late November when it will appear from 1:50am.

Jupiter has returned from its path behind the Sun. It can be seen rising in the east from around 2:30am early in the month, and by month’s end from 1:30am, before moving across the northeast and fading by dawn.

Saturn is clearly visible early in the month from 8:40pm in the northeast, and later in the month from around 9:00pm. Each night it will move across the north and west before being lost to view close to the horizon.

Meteors

This month there are two meteor showers, the Taurids and the Leonids. From a location free of light pollution perhaps 10-15 meteors per hour may be seen.

The Taurids are bright, slow moving with colourful fireballs and occur in the first week of November in Taurus near the Pleiades star cluster and also near the red star Aldebaran.

The Leonids are high speed meteors that leave trains lasting several minutes. They appear in Leo which rises around 4am in the north-east from 13th - 20th but peak on the morning of the 18th. They arise from particles left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle as it orbits the Sun every 33 years, however the number of Leonid meteors has been declining over recent years with perhaps only 15 per hour.

Explore

• NASA Leonids
• EarthSky Leonid Shower
• ESA About the Leonids

International Space Station

ISS orbits every 90 minutes at an average distance of 400 km appearing like a bright star moving slowly across the night sky. Here are some of the brightest passes expected this month over Melbourne and Central Victoria.

Morning

Wednesday 18th 5:14am-5:21am North-West to South-East
Saturday 21st 4:29am-4:34am West-North-West to South-East
Sunday 22nd 3:43am-3:46am East to South-East

Evening

There are no especially bright night passes this month for the ISS.

Heavens Above gives predictions for visible passes of space stations and major satellites, live sky views and 3D visualisations. Be sure to first enter your location under ‘Configuration’.

Stars & Constellations

In the north

The constellation of Pegasus, the winged horse is in the north this month with Andromeda low in the north-west. Aquila (the eagle) and its principal star Altair (Alpha Aquilae) is in the north-west.

Low in the north this month is the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31 or M31), the furthest object visible to the naked eye at 2.5 million light years.

A clear view to the northern horizon and being away from city lights is recommended. This large spiral galaxy contains perhaps 1 trillion stars and occupies an area in the sky larger than the moon. In four billion years our Milky Way and Andromeda may ‘collide’ and pass through each other with several subsequent encounters ultimately resulting in a merger into one large elliptical galaxy. Over time their co-orbiting central supermassive black holes may join to become one with significant gravitational waves generated by the event.

However, the nearby Clouds of Magellan, the smaller Triangulum spiral galaxy (M33), and concentrations of dark matter may exert enough gravitational influence to prevent a collision and merger.

Meet the neighbours - Andromeda and Triangulum

The large Andromeda Galaxy M31 lies about 2 million light years away, comprises several spiral arms, a central bulge, perhaps 1 trillion stars, and numerous dark dust lanes. Credit: ESA / R. Gendler.

The small spiral Triangulum Galaxy M33, a neighbour to our Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy. It is 30,000 light years across and contains perhaps 40 billion stars, spiral arms, numerous gas and dust regions, and many active areas of star formation (in red). It lies in the general direction of Andromeda but further away at about 3 billion light years. Credit: ESO

Our cosmic neighbourhood with these two spiral galaxies, plus perhaps 80 small faint galaxies, make up The Local Group which encompasses a volume of space of about 300 million cubic light years.

Explore

• NASA - Hubble Milky Way Collision
• Science - Milky Way May Escape Collision
• NASA Triangulum Galaxy M33

In the west

Spectacular Scorpius is now low in the west, soon to disappear from our evening skies. The red-giant star Antares (Alpha Scorpii) sits as the middle of three stars that form the arachnid’s body. Sagittarius, the centaur-archer, is above with its bow and arrow forming the well-known Teapot asterism. Higher up sits Capricorn, the sea goat, the hybrid fish-tailed goat.

In the east

Orion, the hunter, rises late in the evening this month, one foot being the blue-giant star Rigel (Beta Orionis) and a shoulder the red-giant star Betelguese (Alpha Orionis). The bright stars known as Orion’s Belt are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka (and form the base of the Saucepan asterism), while Orion’s scabbard (the saucepan’s handle) hanging from his belt contains in its centre the beautiful Orion nebula - a vast gas cloud 1300 light years away where stars formation is occurring. Note that Orion appears upside down in the Southern Hemisphere.

Also, upside down is Taurus, the bull, with the red-giant star Antares (Alpha Scorpii), rising in the north-east later in the night. In the south-east past Orion is Canis Major, greater dog, and its star Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris), the brightest star visible at night and also referred to as The Dog Star.

Approaching summer, the night sky from north-east to south-east will include a diverse range of features to enjoy.

In the south

Low in the south this month is Crux (Southern Cross) with the two Pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri, to its right in the constellation Centaurus. In the south-east shines the second brightest star at night Canopus (Alpha Carinae), the principal star for the constellation Carina, the Keel.

The broad band of the Milky Way arcs from south-east along the western horizon to north-west. During the night as the Earth rotates to the east it will ‘wheel’ across the sky so that by 3am it will stretch from west to east.

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