Find out what’s in the night sky tonight from your Southern Hemisphere location.
If you’re based in the Southern Hemisphere and want to know what you can see in the night sky tonight, this page is for you.
Our monthly-updated night-sky guide will show you what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere over the coming weeks.
We’ll include monthly highlights, stars, constellations, planets and deep-sky objects.
For more advice, read our guides to Southern Hemipshere stargazing and the best night-sky targets to see in Australia.
Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight: highlights, November 2023
Jupiter is at opposition on 3 November and at its brightest and largest for the year.
Located in a rather barren region in Aries, this mag. –2.9 beacon can’t be missed, with only Venus being more luminous.
Although always visible through small scopes, don’t miss appreciating it now when its size (about 50 arcseconds) is around 5% larger than when close to conjunction.
This makes it easier to see detail in its northern and southern equatorial belts and the Great Red Spot.
For more advice, read our guides on how to observe Jupiter through a telescope and how to photograph Jupiter.
Stars and constellations
As we look below the plane of the Milky Way, with our Galaxy hugging the horizon, the constellation of Sculptor is nearly overhead, for it is home to the South Galactic Pole.
The view looking back from this direction would show our Galaxy face-on.
For example, we see the brilliant spiral NGC 253 nearly edge-on.
From this galaxy, 11 million lightyears away, the Milky Way’s nucleus, central bar and spiral arms would be magnificently displayed – sadly a view we can never share!
Planets
Towards the end of November, Mercury makes a poor return to the evening sky, remaining low in the western twilight.
Saturn is still an early treat, being due north (culminating) around sunset, with Neptune following two hours later.
Being at opposition this month, both Jupiter and Uranus are rising in the twilight and visible all night.
Jupiter leads its outer Solar System sibling by about an hour.
Turning to the morning, Venus remains a fixed beacon rising around 03:00.
Deep-sky objects
In November 2023, take a trip to two extra-galactic denizens in Fornax, a constellation that’s home to many galaxies, its brightest member being NGC 1316 (RA 3h 22.7m, dec. –37° 13’).
In a 15cm telescope, this fine mag. 8.5 lenticular galaxy clearly shows a 2 x 3-arcminute hazy halo, rising to a brighter core region.
Only 5 arcminutes north lies the galaxy NGC 1317, appearing as a bright, well-defined, 0.5-arcminute circular cloud.
Fornax also contains the brightest (mag. 9.5) barred spiral galaxy known: NGC 1365 (RA 3h 33.6m, dec. –36° 09’).
Its bright, circular central core stands out, being embedded in a broad, 3-arcminute-long bar.
This is surrounded by a faint halo that looks somewhat mottled, and on a good night with averted vision its spiral arms can be glimpsed, giving the galaxy the overall shape of a distorted letter ‘S’.
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts
Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart October 2023 (PDF)