2025, November 27-30: Evening Moon Approaches and Passes Saturn

November 27-30, 2025: Watch the moon pass Saturn during late November evenings. Follow their nightly positions as the lunar orb moves eastward in front of the stars.

The moon with Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, May 13, 2020
Photo Caption – 2020: May 13: The gibbous moon appears 8.7° to the lower left of Saturn. The Jupiter – Saturn gap is 4.7°.

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

The moon approaches and passes Saturn in the evening sky. The moon is in lunation 1273, the number of lunar cycles since the count began over a century ago. The lunar orb reaches the evening half-full phase (First Quarter) on the 28th at 12:59 a.m. Central Time.

An hour after sunset, step outside and look southward. The bright moon is there, its light casting shadows across the landscape and blotting out dimmer celestial wonders.

During the four evenings, watch it move past the Ringed Wonder.

Here’s what to see an hour after sunset

Saturn and Moon, November 27-30, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, November 27-30: The moon waxes while it approaches and passes Saturn after sunset.

• November 27: Nearly half-full, the moon is 35° up in the south, 8.1° to the upper left of Deneb Algedi, meaning “the kid’s tail.” Find Saturn, noticeably dimmer than expected, 23° to the moon’s upper left.
• November 28: The moon, 57% illuminated, is nearly 40° up in the south-southeast, 10° to the right of Saturn.
• November 29: The bright gibbous moon, 68% illuminated and less than halfway from the southeast horizon to overhead, is 4.9° to Saturn’s upper left. Neptune appears near the moon, but moonlight overwhelms the view. The planet is easier to see when the moon returns to the morning crescent phase.
• November 30: The moon, 78% illuminated, is over 40° up in the southeast, nearly 20° to the upper left of Saturn.

Watch the moon appear farther eastward each night as it approaches and passes Saturn.

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