Daylight saving time officially ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Most of us will set our clocks back one hour when we retire for the night on Nov. 1 so we are on time the next morning.
Darkness descends an hour earlier on Nov. 2, so sky-watchers can start looking at the night sky at an earlier “clock” time.
Darkness will continue to increase compared to daylight through November and until Dec. 22, the date of winter solstice, when the sun at noon will be at its lowest in the sky for the entire year. Thereafter, daylight time will gradually increase.
The tilt of the Earth is the cause of seasonal changes as we orbit the sun.
Mercury moves from the evening sky to the morning sky in November.
On Nov. 9, Mercury lies just to the right of Antares (brightest star in Scorpius) low in the southwestern sky around 5:30 p.m. Binoculars will help to spot it.
By November, Mercury’s orbit will have taken it around to the eastern morning sky where it may be spotted just above much brighter Venus, 30 minutes before sun-up. Venus will point the way to Mercury just above and a bit left of it. Binoculars will help to see them since they are so close to the horizon.
Saturn spends the month high in the southeastern sky among the stars of Aquarius.
On Nov. 2, the nearly full moon will pass just below Saturn.
Full moon is actually on Nov. 5.
Though Saturn will dim a bit this month, it will be visible all night, and the moon will be near it again on Nov. 25.
Jupiter is rising in the eastern sky around 11 p.m. when November begins and its brightness will be increasing all month. It lies below the two brightest stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux. A waning gibbous moon will be below the giant planet Nov. 9-10.
This year’s annual Leonid meteor shower peaks Nov. 17-18.
Meteors appear to come from the area of sky where we find Leo the lion constellation, which rises around midnight in the eastern sky.
As usual with meteor watching, the best time is one to two hours before sunrise as Earth’s rotation turns us toward the meteor stream. Look toward the front of Leo at its “sickle-shaped” grouping of stars (which also looks like a backward question mark).