Juxtaposed Tides What to Shoot in Carolina’s Night Skies — November 2025 Edition
- Juxtaposed Tides
- Oct 31
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 3
November is the month the Carolina sky exhales, at times quiet a frosty breath.
We have to admit, October certainly delivered for us night sky enthusiasts, didn't it? Did you manage to capture some amazing views and celestial photos? We certainly did! Although we weren't able to spot the comets with our eyes or cameras, witnessing Mercury and Venus gracefully move across the sunset and towards the orange horizon more than compensated for not seeing the comets.
The heat is now mostly gone, the bugs are finally losing interest, and the nights feel like they belong fully to whoever is stubborn enough to layer up and step outside after dark. This is where Aperture Abenteuer really lives: long nights, cold fingers, and the kind of sky that gives you fireballs, a record-close full Moon, and quietly blazing planets if you’re willing to meet it halfway.
Welcome to What to Shoot in Carolina’s Night Skies — November 2025. All times below are Eastern Standard Time (after the time change on November 2).
The Moon and the Big Players
Beaver Supermoon — Wednesday, November 5 (Full at 8:19 AM EST)
October warmed you up. November raises the stakes. Now, this supermoon is set to be
On the morning of Wednesday, November 5, the Moon hits full phase at 8:19 AM EST and also reaches its closest full-moon distance of 2025. It’s the Beaver Supermoon—your best shot this year at a massive, telephoto moon hanging over real-world foregrounds.
For photographers in the Carolinas, the real action is not at 8:19 AM sharp. The sweet spots are:
Pre-dawn moonset on the 5th for western horizons
Moonrises and moonsets on November 4, 5, and 6 for layered, warm-hue scale shots
Think piers, lighthouses, bridges, ridgelines, church spires, and city skylines. This is when a 200–600 mm lens turns the Moon into a character, not just a backdrop.
Base telephoto recipe:
Focal length: 200–600 mm
Aperture: f/8–f/11
Shutter: 1/125–1/250 s
ISO: 100–400
Use a photo-ephemeris app to plant yourself exactly where the Moon will rise or set behind your chosen subject. Arrive early, bracket exposures, and let the atmosphere’s low-angle haze add color and drama.
New Moon — Thursday, November 20 (1:47 AM EST)
If the Beaver Supermoon is your big, loud night, November 20 is your quiet, powerful one.
The new moon at 1:47 AM EST wipes stray moonlight off the board, giving you the darkest skies of the month in the final third of November. That’s prime time for:
Deep-sky work (Andromeda, double clusters, late Milky Way structure in darker sites)
Long meteor sequences
Big, clean star fields over ridgelines or dunes
Circle the nights around November 20–22 as your “no excuses” dark-sky window.
Saturn — Evenings in the Southeast
Saturn is still carrying the evening shift.
Just past its autumn opposition, it’s planted in the southeastern sky at dusk, sliding southward by around 9 PM. The rings are tipped close to edge-on this apparition, so you lose the classic wide-open ring look—but gain a sharp, compact planetary disk that plays well in tighter astro-landscapes.
Use Saturn for:
Blue-hour silhouettes: old barns, church steeples, fire towers, live oaks
Telephoto sky anchors: 50–135 mm shots where Saturn sits above a layered foreground
Jupiter — Late Evenings to Dawn
By November, Jupiter has officially taken the crown as the brightest, easiest planet in the sky.
It climbs higher as the night deepens, carrying you from late evening into the early hours. True opposition comes on January 10, 2026, but November is already “prime time” for:
Wide astro-landscapes with a glaring Jupiter as a focal star
Timelapses as Jupiter arcs across mountain gaps or coastal horizons
Planetary imaging for those running scopes or long focal lengths
Think of Jupiter as your “always on” subject this month: if everything else falls apart, you can still come home with a clean, Jupiter-anchored frame.
Uranus — Opposition on Friday, November 21
Uranus gets exactly one moment each year when it’s at its best—this is it.
On November 21, Uranus reaches opposition, meaning it’s opposite the Sun in our sky and up all night. It is not a naked-eye showpiece for most people, but in binoculars or a small telescope, this is your best annual chance to track it down near the new moon window.
For photographers, it’s more of a quiet technical project than a dramatic composition—but if you’ve never logged it before, this is the month to try.
Venus and Mercury — The inner-world cameos
Venus (first half of November): Still playing “Morning Star,” but low in the dawn twilight and fading as the month goes on. For the first couple of weeks, you can still pull off minimalist dawn scenes with Venus over flat eastern horizons. Think calm lakes, marshes, or open fields at 45–60 minutes before sunrise.
Mercury: Mercury is largely a no-show in the evening sky this month, sliding toward inferior conjunction on November 20. It starts to migrate into the morning sky in late November into early December, when it becomes more practical as a subject.
November’s Meteor Showers
November is where the Taurids rumble quietly in the background and the Leonids take the spotlight.
Southern Taurids — November 4–5 (Peak)
Active for weeks, but “peak” around November 4–5. They’re low-rate—just a few meteors per hour—but have a reputation for occasional fireballs.
This year, they suffer under the glare of the Beaver Supermoon. Expect:
Very low counts
Rare, but potentially dramatic, bright fireballs
It’s not a night to chase big numbers; it’s a night to set up a wide field and hope lightning strikes once.
Northern Taurids — November 11–12 (Peak)
About a week later, the Northern Taurids peak around November 11–12.
You still don’t get high rates, but again, you get the possibility of large, slow fireballs that can light up a whole frame.
The Moon is around half-phase, so conditions are mixed. Strategy here is simple:
Start after the Moon is low or has set
Use wide lenses and long sequences
Face generally toward E–SE to keep Taurus and the radiant in play
These nights are less about meteor counts and more about putting yourself in position for one unforgettable frame.
Leonids — Nights of November 16–17 and 17–18
The Leonids are the headliner this month.
They peak the night of November 16–17, with useful activity also possible November 17–18.
In 2025, you get excellent conditions: the Moon is a thin waning crescent, only about 9% illuminated and just a few days from new. Under dark Carolina skies, you can reasonably expect ~10–15 meteors per hour if the sky cooperates.
Key notes:
The radiant in Leo rises near midnight
Activity improves steadily toward pre-dawn
Leonids are fast, often leaving sharp, distinct trails
Base meteor recipe:
Focal length: 14–24 mm
Aperture: f/1.4–f/2.8
ISO: 3200–6400
Shutter: 10–15 s
Run: 2–3 hours of continuous frames
Aim to keep the radiant just outside the frame; that gives you longer, more dramatic streaks cutting across your composition instead of short lines pointing straight back to Leo.
The Photographer’s Shortlist
Here’s how to stack the month if you’re juggling work, weather, and life but still want a strong November portfolio.
November 4–6 — Supermoon Telephoto Work
One three-night window, lots of options.
Nov 4–6: Maximize the Beaver Supermoon with moonrise and moonset shots
Scout piers, lighthouses, bridges, ridgelines, farm silos, or city skylines
Use telephoto compression so the Moon dwarfs the foreground
Stick to: 200–600 mm, f/8–11, 1/125–1/250 s, ISO 100–400, adjusting as twilight deepens and the Moon climbs.
November 11–12 — Northern Taurids
Treat these nights as fireball hunts.
Expect low counts, but keep your rig rolling
Start once the Moon is low or set
Face E–SE to keep Taurus and the radiant in the mix
Baseline: 14–24 mm, f/1.4–2.8, ISO 3200–6400, 10–20 s, with continuous intervals. Don’t babysit every frame. Let the sky do its thing.
November 16–17 (and 17–18) — Leonids
This is your main meteor event.
Plan to be out post-midnight through dawn
Aim for 2–3 hours of continuous shooting
Keep Leo just off-frame for longer streaks
Same wide-field recipe, but more strict about sky quality and composition. Pair Leonids with:
Coastal dunes and piers
Mountain balds and gorge rims
Reservoir shorelines with reflections if conditions allow
All Month — Planet Season
Planets are your safety net.
Saturn at dusk for blue-hour silhouettes and mood
Jupiter late at night for bright anchors in wide frames
Carry:
50–135 mm for tighter astro-landscapes (planet plus foreground)
1000–2000 mm (scope or long tele) if you want true planetary detail to complement your wide work
Carolina Site Notes
You’re spoiled here. Use it.
Coast: Outer Banks and beyond
OBX dark beaches: Pea Island, Coquina Beach, Ocracoke flats
Clean horizons and strong lines for moonrise geometry and meteor sequences
Watch wind and blowing sand; bring a blower and microfiber cloth
Mountains: Blue Ridge and high country
Parkway overlooks: Cowee Overlook, Rough Ridge
Linville Gorge rim and Black Balsam balds for big-sky meteor panoramas and planet silhouettes
Expect real cold and wind; pack layers, gloves, and a thermos (all you Stanley fans, the OG ones, know!)
Piedmont: Quiet but useful
Reservoir edges and farm fields with north and east aspects
Perfect for Leonids and planet framing when you can’t escape to the high country or coast
Less dramatic terrain, but easier access and shorter drives mean more actual time under the sky
Fieldcraft: The Small Things That Save a Night
A few practical details turn “I tried” into “I got it.”
Dew control: Use lens heaters if you have them, or hand warmers strapped around the lens barrel with a rubber band. Dew is a quiet killer on long runs.
Intervals: Run sequences with 2–5 second gaps, shoot RAW, and refresh your composition about once an hour to avoid hundreds of frames of the exact same framing.
Focus: Lock focus on a bright star or planet using 10× live view. Re-check after the temperature drops; focus can drift when glass and metal contract.
Field Tips (quick)
Dew control: lens heaters or hand warmers + rubber band.
Intervals: 2–5 s gaps; shoot RAW; refresh composition hourly.
Focus: bright star/planet with 10× live view; confirm after temperature drops.
Safety: check wind at the coast (there's nothing worse than not anchoring a tripod, and then coming back to lens-down-in-the-sand situation), temps on the balds (frozen fingers find in finicky to press shutter), and tide charts if you’re on a spit (which would likely be one heck of fun time stargazing from!).
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