November brings a packed schedule for sky watchers, with speedy meteors, a bright full Moon, and several planets appearing overhead. Some sights will require a telescope or an early alarm, but others should be readily visible with the naked eye.

Saturn and Neptune remain close together in the sky after their opposition at the beginning of autumn. Saturn can be spotted without equipment, while Neptune requires a telescope, as does Uranus when it rises in the east.

Venus is currently appearing as the morning star, which means observers must wake early to catch it. Those willing to rise before dawn, or remain outside late into the night, also have the Leonid meteor shower to anticipate.

“In the sky this month, we're going to be able to see the Leonids, which is a meteor shower that is caused by debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle,” Dr. Kate Minker from the Lowell Observatory told IFLScience.

“Meteor showers occur when an object has left a trail of debris in space and then Earth moves through that trail as part of its regular orbit.”

The Leonids will peak on Tuesday, November 17. Although the display is not expected to be especially spectacular this year, it could still produce as many as 15 meteors an hour at its peak.

The best viewing opportunity will come before morning twilight, when the shower’s radiant is positioned in the darkest portion of the sky. This should make the streaking meteors easier to distinguish against the darkness.

Anyone who sees a Leonid should have little trouble recognizing its remarkable speed. Leonids are the fastest meteors, traveling at more than 70 kilometers per second because the comet that left the dust pebbles moves in the opposite direction from the planets.

Observers in the northern hemisphere will have the advantage of better views of the meteor shower. The southern hemisphere, however, will have the benefit of better weather.

The meteor shower is only part of November’s celestial lineup. A bright full Moon will follow, offering another reason to step outside and look upward later in the month.

The Moon does not follow a circular orbit around Earth, and its orbital motion does not match its phases. As a result, a full Moon can occur when the Moon is relatively close to Earth or relatively far away.

The variations are small, but they can still be seen. “When we have a supermoon we have a full moon where it's also a little bit closer to us than usual,” Dr Minker told IFLScience.

Supermoon is not a scientific term and is used mostly in popular communication, with definitions that can vary. On November 24, the full Moon will occur while Earth’s natural satellite is within 90% of its closest approach.

“This full moon will not look radically different than the typical full moon that you see,” Dr Minker explained to IFLScience. Even so, the subtle differences in apparent size and brightness may be noticeable.

Supermoons can occur several times during a year. “When they occur, the Moon will appear slightly larger in diameter, between 10% and 14%, than you would normally see. It'll be a little bit brighter as well.”

The November event will be the first supermoon since last January, with the Moon appearing up to 14% larger. The December full Moon will also be a supermoon, and it will be even closer and brighter.

That December appearance will also fall on Christmas Eve. Before then, another major event is scheduled beyond the Moon, involving the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos.

Dr. Minker’s expertise includes moons that form around asteroids. On November 25, the Hera mission will finally reach Didymos and Dimorphos, where it will study how well the two space rocks were pushed into another orbit.

Together, the Leonids, supermoon, planets, and Hera mission give observers several dates to watch. Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Venus will all be visible, although catching every planet will require different equipment and some inconvenient hours.