Moon aligns with Jupiter, and the “Twin” Stars on November 9–10, 2025
Starting Sunday, November 9, look up to see the Moon — about 70% illuminated — gliding through a striking chain of bright lights. This chain is made up of Jupiter, the season’s brightest planet, and Pollux and Castor, the twin stars of Gemini. You’ll easily spot this alignment even from the city with the naked eye! Use the free Sky Tonight app to track the objects’ positions in your local sky.
Contents
- Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux: What to expect
- When and where to see the Moon near Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux
- How to see and photograph the Moon–Jupiter–Castor–Pollux alignment
- What else to see in the November night sky
- Moon meets Jupiter, Castor and Pollux: Bottom line
Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux: What to expect
In the November night sky, Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux form a shining arc across Gemini in the eastern sky. On the night of November 9–10, the waning gibbous Moon will move through this arc, and around 07:00–08:00 GMT (2–3 a.m. EST) the four will appear almost perfectly lined up in the sky.
The best part? All of these celestial bodies are easily visible to the naked eye, even under city lights!
- The Moon (mag -11) is the brightest object and will be easy to spot.
- Jupiter (mag -2.4) a steady, bright point of light located a few degrees southeast of the Moon.
- Pollux (mag 1.1) shines about 5° (roughly three finger-widths at arm’s length) from Jupiter, appears warm orange, and is the brightest star in Gemini.
- Castor (mag 1.6) is a bit farther north, slightly fainter than Pollux, and showing a subtle bluish tint.
Not all locations will see the perfect alignment — convert 07:00 GMT to your local time, and if it falls at nighttime, you’re in luck. To see how this event will look in your sky, use the interactive sky map in the free Sky Tonight app — it shows the position of all celestial objects tailored for your location.
If you miss this alignment, don’t worry! You can still see the Moon passing near the starry arc on the nights around — from November 8 to 11. However, our natural satellite will be farther away, forming a triangle with Jupiter and Pollux instead.
Learn more: Bright dots next to the Moon in the sky.
Why you shouldn’t miss this alignment
This is one of November’s most eye-catching celestial scenes — bright, easy to spot from almost anywhere, and perfect for a quick “wow” moment.
As you watch these glowing dots in the sky, take a moment to consider what they really are. The Moon, shining brightest and largest, is our planet’s natural satellite — the only space object beyond Earth that humans have ever visited. But the smaller “stars” beside it are anything but small.
Pollux is an orange giant roughly nine times the Sun’s size that lies about 34 light-years away. Castor, about 51 light-years distant, isn’t even a single star at all but a gravitationally bound sextuple system — three pairs of stars orbiting together!
Jupiter, shining nearby, is a world about 11 Earth diameters across and orbits roughly 778 million km from the Sun.
In other words, the “dots” you see are enormous worlds and star systems spread across trillions of kilometers in space — yet, for a few evenings, they line up beautifully in our sky.
The Universe is unimaginably large. To put its scale in context, we made an infographic on the size of the observable Universe — check it out!
When and where to see the Moon near Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux
The Moon will pass near the line of Jupiter, Pollux, and Castor on several nights from November 8 to 11, with the best view on the night of November 9–10. That’s when the Moon comes closest to the trio, creating an almost straight-line alignment in some locations.
Northern Hemisphere:
Start looking on the evening of November 9, around 22:00–23:00 local time. Castor and Pollux in Gemini will rise after sunset in the eastern sky, followed by the Moon and Jupiter. They climb higher through the night, reach the highest point around 2:00 a.m., and fade into morning twilight.
Southern Hemisphere:
Aim for the late night of November 9 into the early hours of November 10. The Moon, Jupiter, and Gemini rise above the northeastern horizon shortly after midnight. Your best window is the pre-dawn hours before the Sun brightens the sky.
If you miss the near-perfect line-up, you can still enjoy the Moon sweeping past the trio on the surrounding nights.
How to see and photograph the Moon–Jupiter–Castor–Pollux alignment
With the naked eye:
Give your eyes a few minutes to adapt to the dark, then look for the bright Moon shining next to Jupiter. Both are easy to spot, even from light-polluted areas. The two fainter dots nearby are Castor and Pollux.
With binoculars:
The Moon and Jupiter fit comfortably in a single field of view; rest your elbows on a surface or use a tripod for a steadier view. You’ll see the Moon’s craters and terminator line, and if you look closely, Jupiter’s four Galilean moons — tiny points of light lined up beside the planet. The moons are easiest to see when they pass in front of Jupiter's disk as seen from Earth. You can learn the precise timing of such events in the Sky Tonight app. Moreover, you can find the times when the shadows of the Galilean moons appear to travel across Jupiter in the app.
Through a telescope:
At low magnification (50–100×), the Moon’s craters stand out in crisp detail, and Jupiter appears as a small disk with two dark equatorial belts. If the air is steady, increase the magnification gradually to see more details of Jupiter’s atmosphere and its moons.
With a camera:
Mount your camera on a tripod and focus at infinity. Use short exposures — between 1/500 and 1/125 seconds — and ISO 100–400 to avoid overexposing the Moon. Jupiter will appear as a smaller, bright dot beside it. Take several shots and select the sharpest.
With a smartphone:
Stabilize your phone on a tripod or solid surface. In manual or pro mode, set ISO 100–400 and exposure 1/250–1/60 seconds. If available, enable night-sky or astrophotography mode to capture more stars. The Moon will dominate the frame, Jupiter will appear as a bright dot, while Castor and Pollux will be visible faintly nearby.
What else to see in the November night sky
November nights welcome the return of familiar constellations, signaling the approach of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Look for Taurus, marked by the fiery red Aldebaran and the sparkling Pleiades star cluster. Nearby, Orion rises majestically, with his iconic three-star belt and the reddish glow of Betelgeuse lighting his shoulder.
Moreover, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, shines vividly, accompanied by Procyon in Canis Minor and the faint, mystical band of Monoceros stretching between them.
Together, these constellations paint the familiar panorama that dominates the skies in the months ahead. You can find all these objects and star patterns in a few taps using the free Sky Tonight app.
Moon meets Jupiter, Castor and Pollux: Bottom line
- Best time: November 10, 07:00–08:00 GMT (2–3 a.m. EST)
- Visible from: Both hemispheres
Northern Hemisphere:
- When to look: November 9, from sunset through the night
- Where to look: East–southeastern sky
Southern Hemisphere:
- When to look: November 10, a few hours before sunrise until dawn
- Where to look: East–northeastern sky
Between November 8 and 11, the Moon will pass near a beautiful chain of bright lights formed by Jupiter and the twin stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. The best view will occur on November 9–10, when the Moon passes closest to this trio and, from some locations, forms an almost perfect line with them.
Use the Sky Tonight app to find the exact direction and timing for your location. And if you’d like to know about more upcoming sky events, check out our guide to the celestial events in November 2025.
