Scorpio, the Shortest Sign: The Moon Crosses the Scorpion in Thirteen Hours
On Tuesday, November 10, 2026, the young Moon does something it does every month, though hardly anyone notices. It crosses the whole of Scorpio (November 23 – November 29) in about thirteen hours. The Moon enters the stars of the Scorpion at 11:28 UT (13:28 Greek time) and moves on into Ophiuchus (November 30 – December 17) at about 00:28 UT on Wednesday (02:28 Greek time). No other part of the zodiac goes by so quickly.
Only a corner of the Scorpion
Scorpius is a long curve of bright stars ending in a raised stinger, yet the ecliptic, the path the Sun follows through the year, only clips its northwestern corner, near the head stars Acrab and Dschubba. Measured along that path, the constellation's official boundaries, drawn by the International Astronomical Union in 1930, cover only about 6.6 degrees. After that, the Sun's road runs through Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, for more than 18 degrees.
The rest of the Scorpion lies well to the south. Even Antares, the Scorpion's red heart, lies a little east of the point where the ecliptic leaves Scorpius, just below the stretch of the Sun's path that belongs to Ophiuchus.
Read more: Scorpio, the Shortest Sign: The Moon Crosses the Scorpion in Thirteen Hours
The New Moon in Libra: A Fresh Start Under the Scales
On Monday, November 9, 2026, at 07:02 UT (09:02 Greek time), the Moon reaches its new phase. For a few hours it lines up between the Earth and the Sun and disappears completely from view. Many horoscopes will call this a "New Moon in Scorpio". Look at the real sky, though, and you will find the Sun and the Moon together in front of the stars of Libra.
What happens at a New Moon
The Moon is always half lit by the Sun. What changes from night to night is how much of that sunlit half we can see from Earth. At New Moon the Moon stands on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, so its bright face points away from us and its dark side faces us. It rises and sets with the Sun, hidden in daylight.
From one New Moon to the next takes about 29.5 days, the synodic month. Within a day or two after Monday, a slender crescent will appear low in the southwest just after sunset. Each evening it will grow a little thicker and climb a little higher, until the next Full Moon on November 24.
Read more: The New Moon in Libra: A Fresh Start Under the Scales
Star Maps, Myths and Exoplanets – My New Book
Look up at the night sky and you can read two stories at once: the myths the ancient Greeks wrote among the stars, and the new worlds astronomers have found circling those same stars. My new book, Star Maps, Myths and Exoplanets, brings the two together for the first time in a single atlas.
Paperback in full colour – $29.99 Kindle eBook – $9.99 or free with Kindle+
Double Retrograde in Virgo: Why Mercury and Venus Seem to Walk Backward
For a few days this November, two of our closest neighbours are doing something that has fascinated sky-watchers for thousands of years. Both Mercury and Venus appear to move backward against the stars, and in the real sky they are doing it in the same constellation: Virgo.
What retrograde motion really is
No planet ever stops or reverses in its orbit. Retrograde motion is an effect of perspective. Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun inside Earth's orbit and move faster than we do. When one of them passes between the Earth and the Sun, an alignment called inferior conjunction, it overtakes us on the "inside lane". For a few weeks around that moment, its position against the distant stars appears to slide westward instead of eastward.
Venus reached inferior conjunction around October 23–24, 2026, and Mercury on November 4. That is why both are retrograde at the same time. Venus has been moving backward since October 3, and Mercury since October 24. Both turn direct again around November 13–14, 2026.
Read more: Double Retrograde in Virgo: Why Mercury and Venus Seem to Walk Backward
The Taurids: Autumn Fireballs from the Bull (Taurus)
If you are outdoors on a dark November night and see a slow, bright meteor gliding across the sky, there is a good chance it is a Taurid. This modest but much-loved meteor shower is active right now, and 2026 offers it a gift: a New Moon on November 9, just before the Northern Taurids reach their peak.
Two Showers from One Comet
The Taurids are really two streams of debris. The Southern Taurids are active from about September 20 to November 20 and peaked around November 4–5. The Northern Taurids run from about October 20 to December 10 and peak on the nights of November 11–12. Both come mainly from Comet 2P/Encke, which has one of the shortest orbits of any known comet, returning to the Sun every 3.3 years. Over thousands of years it has scattered a wide trail of dust and pebbles along its path, and the Earth crosses that trail every autumn.
Read more: The Taurids: Autumn Fireballs from the Bull (Taurus)
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