The waxing crescent moon sets early again this week, leaving the hours after dusk dark through the weekend of November 13 through 15 — the final stretch of truly dark skies before the Keweenaw Dark Sky Park closes for its scheduled seasonal break, running from November 16 through December 14. Stargazers hoping to make one more trip to the golf course grounds at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge should plan for these next few nights; the moon reaches its first quarter on November 17 and grows toward full by November 24, brightening the sky through the remainder of the closure.
Early risers have an additional reason to look up before dawn this week. Mars and Jupiter pass close together in the eastern morning sky, reaching conjunction around November 16, as part of a wider line-up of planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter — stretching across the pre-dawn sky through the rest of the month. No equipment is required; the pairing is easily visible to the naked eye roughly an hour before sunrise.
Looking just beyond the closure, the Leonid meteor shower peaks overnight on November 17, with ten to fifteen meteors per hour expected under dark, moonless-enough skies. Because that peak falls the night after the park closes for the season, viewing from the golf course grounds will not be possible this year; stargazers in the area are welcome to watch instead from Brockway Mountain Drive or a nearby county or state park along Lake Superior.
Mark the calendar, too, for the Geminid meteor shower, one of the most reliable showers of the year, peaking the night of December 13 into December 14 — just as the park reopens for the season. A thin waxing crescent moon sets early that night, leaving dark skies for the shower’s peak and a fitting reopening night for the park.
The sun remains active this autumn, and additional geomagnetic storms remain possible in the weeks ahead. Check NOAA’s real-time aurora forecast at spaceweather.gov each evening for updates, and watch the northern horizon from a dark, open vantage point. Cabin guests of the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge may borrow a telescope to make the most of the park’s final nights before the seasonal closure.