Mars and Jupiter Conjunction: See the Two Planets Side by Side Before Dawn on 15 and 16 November

If you are up before sunrise this weekend, look high in the south-eastern sky. Two bright "stars" are sitting unusually close together. They are not stars at all but planets: brilliant Jupiter and smaller, rusty-coloured Mars. The Mars and Jupiter conjunction is at its tightest on the mornings of 15 and 16 November 2026, when the pair are only about 1.2 degrees apart, a little more than the width of two full Moons side by side. No telescope is needed to see them, and it is one of the easiest and prettiest sky sights of the month.

When is the Mars and Jupiter conjunction?

Our calculations show the two planets line up north–south (the moment astronomers call conjunction) at about 02:20 UTC on 15 November, about 1.25° apart. They keep drifting a little closer after that, reaching their minimum separation of about 1.19° at around 01:40 UTC on 16 November. The difference between those two mornings is too small for the eye to notice, so both are equally good. If clouds get in the way, do not worry: they are still about 1.4° apart on 14 November and 1.2° apart on 17 November, so you have several mornings to catch them.

NASA's November skywatching guide also highlights 15–16 November as the best mornings for the pairing.

Where and when to look from your city

Both planets rise around local midnight and climb high by dawn. The best time to look is the last hour or so before the sky starts to brighten, when they are high and the sky is still dark. The table below gives the time Jupiter rises (Mars rises at almost the same moment), the point when dawn begins to wash out the sky, and how high the pair stand at that time. All times are local, for the night of 15–16 November.

• New Delhi: rises about 00:05; look before about 05:50; around 72° high in the south-east.
• Mumbai: rises about 00:33; look before about 05:55; around 76° high, east to south-east.
• Dubai: rises about 00:07; look before about 05:45; around 74° high in the south-east.
• London: rises about 23:05; look before about 06:00; around 52° high in the south.
• New York: rises about 23:20; look before about 05:40; around 62° high in the south.
• Los Angeles: rises about 23:25; look before about 05:30; around 68° high in the south-south-east.
• Sydney: rises about 01:45; look before about 04:40; around 31° high in the north-east.

For most of the Northern Hemisphere, that means looking high up toward the south-east or south, more than halfway to the overhead point. From Australia the pair are lower and toward the north-east. Our night sky tonight planner shows rise times for your exact location.

How to tell which is which

You will not need a chart for long. Jupiter is the brighter of the two by far, at magnitude about −2.1, shining with a steady cream-white light. Mars, at about magnitude +0.7, is roughly a dozen times fainter and has a clear orange-red tint. On these mornings Mars sits just above Jupiter, slightly to the north. About 4.5° below and to the left is Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion. Planets do not twinkle much, while Regulus may flicker if it is low and the air is unsteady. That is a nice way to tell planets from stars.

What you will see with binoculars and a telescope

Naked eye

Two bright points almost touching, with a clear colour difference: white against orange. Even from a city with heavy light pollution, both planets are easy to see.

Binoculars

Most binoculars show a field of view of about 6 to 7 degrees, so Mars, Jupiter and Regulus all fit in one view. Rest your elbows on a wall or car roof to steady them. Look closely at Jupiter and you may see up to four tiny pinpoints lined up beside it. Those are its largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, first spotted by Galileo in 1610.

Small telescope

Jupiter shows a disc about 37 arcseconds across, with two dark cloud belts that most small telescopes can show. Mars is much smaller, only about 7 arcseconds wide, so it appears as a tiny orange disc with little detail at this distance. At low magnification, both planets may just fit in the same field of view.

Close in the sky, far apart in space

A conjunction is a line-of-sight effect. The two planets only look close because they happen to lie in the same direction from Earth. In reality, on 16 November Mars is about 195 million km from us, while Jupiter is about 788 million km away, roughly four times farther. You can learn more about each planet on NASA's Mars and Jupiter pages.

Why do they meet at all? Every planet moves along roughly the same path across the sky, the ecliptic, because the planets orbit the Sun in nearly the same flat plane. Mars moves along that path much faster than distant, slow-moving Jupiter, so it catches up and passes Jupiter about every two years. Some passes are closer than others; this one is a good, easy one, and it is high in a dark sky for much of the world.

How to photograph the pair

• Phone: Use night mode, rest the phone on something solid or a small tripod, and tap on Jupiter to focus. A 2 to 5 second exposure will show both planets and Regulus.
• Camera: Try a 50–100 mm lens at f/2.8–f/4, ISO 800–1600 and a 1–2 second exposure. Include some foreground, such as a tree or rooftop, to make the photo more interesting.
• Telescope or long zoom: Short exposures or video work best for Jupiter's moons and belts. Stack the frames later if you like.

The Moon won't spoil the show

The Moon is a thin waxing crescent this weekend, about a quarter to a third lit, and it sets in the evening. The pre-dawn sky will be dark and moonless, ideal for seeing the planets at their best. Our Moon phase tonight page shows the exact phase where you are.

More to see this week

The Mars and Jupiter conjunction is part of a busy morning sky. Venus and Mercury are low in the east before sunrise, making up the four-planet line-up we described in our planet parade guide. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of 17–18 November. Our Leonid viewing guide has the best times. And if you want to know what Jupiter will look like when it is at its biggest and brightest early next year, read our Jupiter opposition 2027 guide.

Set an alarm, step outside an hour before sunrise and look up. You will see two worlds hundreds of millions of kilometres apart, side by side in the same patch of sky.