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Posted on: Friday October 31, 2025

November is a good month for planet watchers, as both Saturn and Jupiter are well-placed in the evening. Comet Lemmon is still visible, although it fades over the course of the month. Although several meteor showers are active or even peak in November, none of them produce a rate of meteors that most people would consider a “shower”.

The fall sky still gives us a view of the summer sky just after dark – as those stars slip into the west, the sunset occurs earlier each night, which gives us an extra bit of summer (at least astronomically). Pegasus and Andromeda are high in the south, and Cassiopeia takes her place near the zenith. Meanwhile, the winter constellations – Orion, Taurus, Gemini – are waiting in the east to usher in the cold weather.

And of course, in November we alter the clocks as part of the misnamed “daylight savings” scheme, which probably made sense when you literally blew out the lights at night, but makes no difference in the era of 24/7 office lights, refrigerators, and device charging.

Comets in November 2025

Comets are chunks of ice and dust a few kilometers across that originate from the edge of the solar system. If one moves through the inner solar system closer to the Sun, the ice melts and the dust streams away, blown buy the solar wind into a tail which can sometimes become bright enough to see from Earth. They can be visible for days or weeks as they zoom around the Sun and head back out into deep space.

At any given time there are five or ten comets in the sky that are visible in large telescopes. A comet that reaches binocular visibility is uncommon, maybe one every couple of years. A comet that becomes bright enough to be seen without optical aid is even more rare.

In November 2025, Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is still visible in binoculars (and maybe to the unaided eye, from a dark sky) in the early evening. Last month, this comet was a nice photographic target, but it looked just like a fuzzy blob to most visual observers (perhaps with a bit of a tail pointing upwards). If you want to see this comet before it fades too much, head out 30 minutes after sunset in the first week of November. The Moon gets brighter each night, though, and won’t leave the sky until November 7th, when the comet has already started to sink lower into the horizon haze. Use the chart below to see where the comet it relative to the bright star Arcturus and the fainter stars of the little-known constellation Ophiuchus.

Comet 2025 R2 SWAN has pretty much faded from view for most observers unless you have a telescope. It was nice over the last few weeks, but was quickly overshadowed by Comet Lemmon which turned out to be brighter and have a much longer and more visible tail. With a small telescope or large binoculars you can still spot Comet SWAN in the evening sky, slowly moving between the Great Square of Pegasus and the planet Saturn.

Meanwhile, Comet 3I/ATLAS is passing through perihelion on the far side of the Sun, and will re-emerge into the morning sky this month. Despite what you may have heard, various satellites have been watching this interstellar comet even as it passes behind and slightly above the Sun as seen from Earth, and it is still behaving exactly like a comet. However, one can apparently gain lots of social media clicks by suggesting that this object is not natural. There is absolutely no evidence that 3I/ATLAS is anything other than a comet, but that has never stopped spotlight hogs from making stuff up in the past.

Star chart depicting the daily position of Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) at 7:15 pm CDT (6:15 CST) facing west.

Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is visible in binoculars in the evening sky after sunset. Get away from city lights and look for a fuzzy “star” in the location on the chart.

The Solar System for November 2025

Mercury passes just above the Sun on November 19th, making it invisible for observation for most of the month. By the end of the month it appears low in the southeast just before sunrise.

Venus rises in the east as morning twilight begins, but sinks lower each morning until finally disappearing into the glow of dawn. What is the last morning you can see it?

Mars is too close to the Sun to be visible this month.

Jupiter rises about 11 p.m. at the beginning of the month, and mid-evening by month’s end. It shines as the brightest “star” in the sky (other than Venus just before dawn) near the bright stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Even a small telescope will show Jupiter as a tiny planet with several tinier “stars” in a line near it – these are Jupiter’s largest moons. Up to four of them can be seen, depending on where they are in their orbit around the giant planet. Often these moons can be glimpsed in binoculars as well.

Saturn is in the southeast as darkness falls, the brightest “star” in that area of the sky. It sets about 4 a.m. at the beginning of the month and about 1 a.m. by month’s end. Telescope users should catch it when it is highest in the south to avoid the turbulent air near the horizon. Saturn’s rings are only tilted by a couple of degrees relative to our line of sight, which means they appear very thin and edge-on. The waxing gibbous moon is to the right of Saturn on November 1st, 2025 and to its left on November 2nd, 2025.

For those with large telescopes or astroimaging equipment, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, crosses in front of Saturn’s disk as seen from Earth on the evening of November 6th and 22nd.

Uranus is in the morning sky a few degrees below the famous Pleaides star cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters). It is too faint to easily see without binoculars, and even a telescope shows it as a faint dot that looks just like the other faint stars. A detailed star-charting app like Stellarium is required to track it down.

Neptune is in the same binocular field of view as Saturn for the entire month, about 4º to Saturn’s left (that’s a bit more than half of the field of view of typical binoculars). Neptune requires good binoculars or a small telescope to even spot, and a large telescope to make it out as anything more than a faint dot. Again, a detailed star chart like those produced by Stellarium is required to tell which tiny “dot” is Neptune.

Of the five known dwarf planets, only (1) Ceres is close enough to be seen in binoculars or a small telescope. Ceres is still visible this month after its opposition in early October, below and to the left of Saturn and Neptune, and remains bright enough to spot in binoculars and small telescopes all month. You should be able to spot it as a faint “star” that slowly changes its position each night. Use the attached chart, excerpted from the RASC Observer’s Handbook, to tell which “dot” is the dwarf planet.

Sky Calendar for November 2025

All times are given in the local time for Manitoba, which changes this month from Daylight “Savings” Time (CDT) to Standard Time (CST). However, most of these events are visible across Canada at the same local time without adjusting for time zones.

If there’s a little box to the left of the date, you can click on it to see a star map of that event! All images are created using Stellarium, the free planetarium software.

Saturday, November 1st, 2025 (evening sky): The Moon is to the right of Saturn this evening. Also, turn your clock one hour earlier before you go to bed on November 1st, as Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 2 this year.

Sunday, November 2nd, 2025 (evening sky): The Moon is to the left of Saturn this evening.

Tuesday, November 4th-Wednesday, November 5th, 2025 (morning sky): The annual South Taurid meteor shower peaks this morning, but it produces so few meteors that it is only monitored for scientific purposes. This year, the full Moon means we won’t see even the one or two meteors per hour predicted. Not worth getting out of bed for.

Wednesday, November 5th, 2025: Full Moon

Sunday, November 9th, 2025 (evening sky): The waning gibbous Moon is near Jupiter all night.

Tuesday, November 11th-Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 (morning sky):The annual North Taurid meteor shower peaks this morning, but like its southerly cousin it produces so few meteors that it is only monitored for scientific purposes. Not worth getting out of bed for. Last Quarter Moon occurs just before midnight on the 11th in our time zone.

Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 (not visible): The just-past-last-quarter Moon occults (passes in front of, or eclipses) the bright star Regulus in Leo early this evening, but this event is not visible from North America. Mentioned only because it will probably be all over social media.

Sunday, November 16th-Monday, 17th, 2025 (morning sky): The annual Leonid meteor shower peaks just before morning twilight on November 17th, with an expected rate of 5 to 15 meteors per hour. The Leonids are famous for producing occasional and quasi-periodic “storms” of hundreds or thousands of meteors per hour, but this is not expected this year.

Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 (morning sky): The very thin crescent Moon and Venus are beside each other, very low in the east just before dawn. You will need a very clear sky and maybe also binoculars to spot them against the bright twilight sky.

Thursday, November 20th, 2025: New Moon

Sunday, November 23th, 2025: Saturn’s rings are as close to edge-on as we get this year, with the rings tilted less than a quarter of a degree away from edge-on. After this, our view of the rings improves as the angle of our view increases year after year.

Friday, November 28th, 2025 (evening sky): The First Quarter Moon is to the right of Saturn this evening.

Saturday, November 29th, 2025 (evening sky): The waxing gibbous Moon is to the left of Saturn this evening.

Summer Meteor Showers

People stare up at the northern lights above them.

Outside of the regular events listed above, there are other things we see in the sky that can’t always be predicted in advance.

Aurora borealis, the northern lights, are becoming a more common sight again as the Sun goes through the maximum of its 11-year cycle of activity. Particles from the Sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and the high upper atmosphere to create glowing curtains of light around the north (and south) magnetic poles of the planet. Manitoba is well-positioned relative to the north magnetic pole to see these displays often, but they still can’t be forecast very far in advance. A site like Space Weather can provide updates on solar activity and aurora forecasts for the next 48 hours. The best way to see the aurora is to spend a lot of time out under the stars, so that you are there when they occur.

Random meteors (also known as falling or shooting stars) occur every clear night at the rate of about 5-10 per hour. Most people don’t see them because of light pollution from cities, or because they don’t watch the sky uninterrupted for an hour straight. They happen so quickly that a single glance down at your phone or exposure to light can make you miss one.

Satellites are becoming extremely common sights in the hours after sunset and before dawn. Appearing as a moving star that takes a few minutes to cross the sky, they appear seemingly out of nowhere. These range from the International Space Station and Chinese space station Tianhe, which have people living on them full-time, to remote sensing and spy satellites, to burnt-out rocket parts and dead satellites. These can be predicted in advance (or identified after the fact) using a site like Heavens Above by selecting your location.

Scott Young

Planetarium Astronomer

Scott is the Planetarium Astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, developing astronomy and science programs. He has been an informal science educator for more than thirty years, working in the planetarium and science centre field both at The Manitoba Museum and also at the Alice G. Wallace Planetarium in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Scott is an active amateur astronomer and a past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Manitoba Stories: In the Sky

Astronomy

Tuesday May 26, 2026

Posted on: Thursday October 16, 2025

One of the core activities of natural history collections is the loaning out of material. These temporary exits of objects from the museum allow for a variety of uses. Last year, 114 natural history specimens were loaned out and 225 specimens returned from loans, all contributing to scientific publications, improved identification, community accessibility, and much more. In this blog, learn about one of the less well-known aspects of museum collections work, and how the accessibility of museum specimens works behind-the-scenes as well as in the galleries.

Loans are primarily for research and exhibit purposes, and are made at the request of an institution (museum, gallery, university, etc.) or professional affiliate (PhD student, research associate, curator, etc.). In the case of research loans, specimens may be transported for research processes such as CT scanning, photography, sampling, measurement, or other analyses. Specimens loaned for exhibits are quite straightforward, on display for a different institution’s audience for a limited time.

A loan of Manitoba Museum herbarium sheets and pinecones shipped back from researchers at the DAO (Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa) National Collection of Vascular Plants. ©Manitoba Museum

Our natural history specimens can also be loaned out at the request of the Manitoba Museum itself, in special cases of community outreach or for analysis by an expert at another institution. For example: over a hundred moss specimens were loaned out by the Museum to the botany department at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and all of them returned with identification to species level. The cougar skeleton on display in the Parklands Gallery was loaned out to a preparator in order to become a mount.

A specimen returned from loan to the Canadian Museum of Nature with further identification details. ©Manitoba Museum

The skeleton of SK10 being mounted for exhibit. Each bone sits in a unique cradle that permits removal for later research. ©Manitoba Museum

Loans provide access to scientific data, an important principle related to the reproducibility of modern research. Providing this access increases the amount of reputable natural science connections to Museum-held specimens, which in turn supports the usage of collections. Accessibility, usage, and preservation of physical specimens and their data contribute to the functioning of the collections and exemplifies one of the crucial roles that museum collections play in bridging academia and public knowledge

The process of making a natural history loan starts with a request, either using the Museum’s online loan request form (click here for the request form) or in direct communication with the curator. This request is fine-tuned between the borrower, the curator, and collections staff, and is submitted to the Museum’s Collections Committee for approval.

A number of factors are assessed before a loan request for natural history material is approved, as there are always risks to weigh in the balance of facilitating the greatest scientific and public access to natural history specimens. Collections and conservation staff must confirm that the specimen’s condition is sufficiently stable for transportation, handling, or display. We must also confirm that the institution loaning it can provide a secure and conservation-grade environment for the material to be in for the duration of the loan.

A research loan request is also determined by whether the material can feasibly be analysed by a visitor on-site rather than sent out of the Museum, particularly when it involves material of major scientific or monetary value. In international cases, collections staff may have to determine the need for export permits, or reject a loan request because of international restrictions or regulations. If the loan request involves destructive sampling (such as for mould-making, carbon-dating, or isotope analysis), curators and collections staff must decide if there is sufficient specimen material in the right condition for part of the specimen to be permanently removed.

Specimens packed for hand-carry transport. ©Manitoba Museum

A loan ready to go out, with its accompanying Outgoing Loan Agreement. ©Manitoba Museum

Once the loan is approved, conservators and collections staff make a condition report for each specimen to be loaned, which records the physical state of the specimen before it leaves the Museum. The loan agreement paperwork is signed by the borrower and the relevant curator. Collections staff update the location of each specimen in the database, so that if someone is looking for that specimen while it is on loan, they know where it is. The specimens are packed for transport, either for hand-carry or in the mail, using conservation grade packing materials and sometimes special transport cases.

An open chest freezer packed with individually bagged items in clear plastic bags with forms containing the object details.

Eventually at the agreed-upon date, the loan will be returned to the Museum, and all of the above happens in reverse: loan return paperwork is signed, the specimens are unpacked, condition reports written to record the specimen’s (ideally unchanged) state, and the specimen’s location is updated in the database. Often, the return of a loan for scientific research is accompanied by identification annotations, citations in publications, or other findings about the specimen. Depending on the nature of the specimen, it may be quarantined or frozen before finally being returned to its normal storage place in the collections.

Image: A chest freezer packed with individually bagged specimens returned from loan, or new acquisitions entering the Museum. ©Manitoba Museum

All collections usage is important to track, and the results of such usage are vital to the continued development of specimen records, which are not static files but rather ever-evolving informational assemblages. Records with a rich history of usage contain not only physical data about the specimen, but connections to people, places, events, research projects, and more. At many other museums around the world data regarding collections use can be disseminated to national or provincial funding bodies to elucidate the impact that the museum collections have for the public and scientific communities.

Dr. Brigit Tronrud

Collections Management Specialist – Natural History

Dr. Brigit Tronrud earned her D.Phil in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford (2022) specializing in paleontology and zoology, following her B.Sc. from the University of Chicago (2017). Her doctoral research focussed…

Museum Stories: Collections & Conservation

Collections & Conservation

Wednesday May 13, 2026

The Last Straw for Delta Marsh and Rye Farm

The Delta Marsh and Rye Farm diorama in the Parklands Gallery was completed in 2003, having been in the planning and construction phases since the mid-1990s. The result was a masterpiece of exhibitry…

Collections & Conservation

Monday May 4, 2026

Our Biggest Zoology Specimen

At the Manitoba Museum, our Natural History collections mandate requires that we focus our collecting efforts on specimens that are from Manitoba. We do occasionally make small exceptions to that rule, especially if …

Collections & Conservation

Thursday March 5, 2026

Cleaning Taxidermy

Taxidermy is a great way to preserve animals. While less popular than it used to be, taxidermied specimens are still found in houses, not just in museums! The techniques and products used to taxidermy a specimen vary greatly depending on …

Posted on: Friday October 10, 2025

Manitoba has over 1,700 species of wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and trees. But identifying them is not easy.

The original Flora of Manitoba book, published in 1957, is missing more than 300 species known to grow here, including 13 ferns and 10 orchids. For the last two decades, staff at the Manitoba Museum, along with a team of volunteer botanists, have been working on an updated edition of Manitoba Flora to replace the old one.

Woman standing in a mixedwood forest surrounded by waist-high ferns.

This team spent years conducting field surveys to search for new species and relocate rare plant populations. Close examination of the Museum’s preserved specimens was also conducted to verify and update the plants’ names. The new publication will contain all the ‘missing’ species, making it easier for scientists to track the rarity of the provinces’ plants.

Volume 1 of the Manitoba Flora will cover 614 species of spore-producing plants (i.e. clubmosses, ferns, horsetails, quillworts, and spikemosses), conifers, and flowering monocots (i.e. orchids, irises, lilies, grasses, etc.). Volume 2, available in a few years, will cover the dicots (e.g. broad-leaved trees, asters, roses, etc.).

The beautiful prairie lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is one of the species described in the new book. © Manitoba Museum

The book contains all the cone-bearing trees in the province, including Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana). © Manitoba Museum

In addition to detailed descriptions of the plants, the book will also contain:

A foreward by elder Mukaday Animikii/Black Thunderbird/Shirli Ewanchuk on Indigenous worldviews and relationships with the plant world;
A history of scientific and common plant names;
An illustrated guide to vascular plant terminology;
Hundreds of species illustrations;
Indigenous names of culturally important plants integrated throughout the book;
Species’ rarity, ecological zones, habitats, and flowering periods; and
An extensive glossary of botanical terms.

It is the Manitoba Museum’s hope that this new publication will make it easier for students, professional botanists, landowners, ranchers, foresters, gardeners and native plant enthusiasts to identify the plants of the province.

You can pre-order your copy of Volume 1 of the Manitoba Flora, available this fall, by visiting the online Museum Shop at ManitobaMuseumShop.ca!

Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson

Curator of Botany

Dr. Bizecki Robson obtained a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology at the University of Saskatchewan studying rare plants of the mixed grass prairies. After working as an environmental consultant and sessional lecturer…

Meet Dr. Bizecki Robson

Museum Stories: DYK Discovery

DYK Discovery

Friday June 12, 2026

Keeping Indigenous Voices Alive

Did you know that Indigenous languages across Canada are considered endangered or at risk of becoming endangered? Canada is home to 70 distinct Indigenous languages, belonging to several…

DYK Discovery

Friday May 8, 2026

A Paper Trail That Speaks Volumes

What can a piece of paper reveal about a life? In May, in honour of Asian Heritage Month, the Manitoba Museum invites you to discover how fragile documents—certificates, photos, and government records…

DYK Discovery

Friday April 17, 2026

A Planet Worth Celebrating

Every year on April 22, people around the world celebrate Earth Day, a moment to appreciate the wondrous planet we call home. Earth supplies the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the ecosystems that support a mind-blowing diversity of life…

October this year features a couple of unusual visitors to the autumn sky: a pair of comets which may become bright enough to see in small telescopes. As usual, the online hype over these comets far outstrips reality. See below for the real deal, including how you can track down these tiny snowballs for the edge of the solar system.

Comets in October 2025

In October, there are actually two comets that are becoming visible in binoculars and small telescopes. Unfortunately, only one is easy to spot from the northern hemisphere. There’s also a rare interstellar comet passing through our solar system, and while it won’t be visible without a telescope it’s generating a lot of media attention. Let’s dive in.

Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is visible in binoculars near the Big Dipper now, although that part of the sky is best seen in the pre-dawn hours. As the comet brightens it will pass into the evening sky and be more conveniently placed for viewing.

Comet SWAN (C/2025 R2) was very bright in the southern hemisphere, but has faded after rounding the sun. It is visible low in the evening sky after sunset. It rises higher into the sky as it moves away, becoming visible in a darker sky but also fading. How these two factors balance out will determine wether this is a good comet or a “meh” comet.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is a different kind of comet – it comes from beyond our solar system. (So, REALLY REALLY REALLY far away instead of just REALLY REALLY far away!) It passes near the planet Mars in early October, where a fleet of Mars probes will turn their cameras towards this target of opportunity. After passing around the Sun this object will head off into deep space, never to return. While never getting bright enough to see even in a good backyard telescope, it’s still an interesting object that is sharing some of the scientific spotlight with the other two comets above.

Update – 6 October 2025: Several images of Comet 3I/ATLAS have been released from the various Mars spacecraft, and frankly they’re disappointing. While the cameras are closer than we are to the comet, and the Sun isn’t in the way, they’re not cameras designed for taking pictures of the sky. So, they look like the pictures of the sky most people get with their cell phones – a short trail that moves during the long exposure required. The various space agencies really overhyped what they’d be able to image in these circumstances.

The Solar System for September 2025

Mercury is too close to the horizon to be seen from Canadian latitudes this month. It reaches greatest elongation from the Sun on October 29, but it sets at sunset and so we won’t catch it this time around. Mercury is in the same area of the sky as Mars, and viewers in the southern hemisphere will be able to catch them just after sunset.

Venus rises in the east as morning twilight begins, and is low in the east-southeast as the sun rises. Venus is bright enough to be seen well into twilight and even after sunrise, if you can keep your eyes focused on it – but as soon as you look away, you’ll lose it because your eyes will defocus and it will be lost in the bright sky. On the morning of the 19th the thin crescent moon passes nearby, a nice morning phot op.

Mars is still too close to the Sun (as seen from Canadian latitudes) to be visible this month. In the same area of the sky as Mercury, and viewers farther south will be able to catch them just after sunset.

Jupiter rises about midnight at the beginning of October, the brightest “star” in the sky until Venus rises. Jupiter stands high in the south by dawn. Jupiter is below the bright stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini, with Pollux being the one closer to Jupiter.

Saturn is low in the southeast as darkness falls and is visible all night, rising to its highest point in the south around midnight. Saturn’s rings are only tilted by a couple of degrees relative to our line of sight, which means they appear very thin and edge-on. The situation gets worse throughout the year, as the rings will nearly disappear from our point of view. They’re still there, but they are so thin that it’s like looking at the edge of a piece of paper. On the plus side, for those with large telescopes, we will be able to see some of Saturn’s moons cast their shadow on the planet as they orbit. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, casts its shadow on the planet on the nights of October 5-6th, the last such event visible for the next 15 years (although Titan itself will still transit the planet several more times in 2025).

Neptune is in the same binocular field of view as Saturn for the entire month, but since it is even farther than Uranus it is invisible without optical aid. Neptune requires good binoculars or a small telescope to even spot, and a large telescope to make it out as anything more than a faint dot. Again, a detailed star chart like those produced by Stellarium is required to tell which tiny “dot” is Neptune.

Of the five known dwarf planets, only (1) Ceres is close enough to be seen in binoculars or a small telescope. Ceres reaches opposition (the point opposite the Sun in the sky) on October 2, below and to the left of Saturn and Neptune, and remains bright enough to spot in binoculars and small telescopes all month. You should be able to spot it as a faint “star” that slowly changes its position each night. Use the attached chart, excerpted from the RASC Observer’s Handbook, to tell which “dot” is the dwarf planet.

Sky Calendar for August 2025

All times are given in the local time for Manitoba: Central Daylight Time (UTC-5). However, most of these events are visible across Canada at the same local time without adjusting for time zones.

If there’s a little box to the left of the date, you can click on it to see a star map of that event! All images are created using Stellarium, the free planetarium software.

Sunday, October 5, 2025: Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, casts its shadow along the north pole of Saturn, while the moon itself transits across Saturn’s mid-northern latitude. (Visible with large telescopes only.) The nearly-Full Moon is nearby tonight as well.

Tuesday, October 6th, 2025: Full Moon occurs at 10:48 p.m. CDT.

Monday, October 13th, 2025: Last Quarter Moon occurs at 1:13 p.m. CDT.

Sunday, October 19th, 2025 (morning sky): The crescent Moon is near Venus just before dawn.

Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 (morning sky): The Orionid meteor shower peaks in the pre-dawn hours this morning, but it produces less than a dozen meteors per hour on average. You’ll need to drive away from bright lights into darker country skies to get a good view. This year, the Orionids peak on the night of New Moon, so no moonlight will interfere.

Wednesday, October 29th, 2025: First Quarter Moon occurs at 11:21 a.m. CDT. Also this morning, the Moon occults (passes in front of) the dwarf planet Pluto, but this event is totally unobservable because of Pluto’s great distance makes it impossible to see without a telescope at the best of times.

Friday, October 31st, 2025: Hallowe’en night is a great night to share sky views with any trick-or-treaters that visit your house. Binoculars on a tripod will show the Moon well, and a telescope can show Saturn’s rings!