StarPixels Skynotes — North Texas (Denton/Argyle 76226) — Tue, Nov 18, 2025

TL;DR: 🌤️ Short evenings, dark skies. 🌙 Ultra-thin waning crescent (~2–3%). 🪐 Saturn early, Jupiter late; Uranus up most of the night. ☄️ Leonids still worthwhile pre-dawn; Taurids can still throw slow fireballs. Easy wins: M31 & M45.

🌅 Sun & Twilight

Sunset: 5:24 pm Evening dusk: Civil 5:51 pm • Nautical 6:21 pm • Astronomical 6:50 pm Morning: Astronomical 5:36 am • Nautical 6:06 am • Civil 6:36 am • Sunrise 7:02 am.

🌙 Moon

Phase / illumination: Waning crescent, ~2–3%. Rise / Set (local approx): ~5:30 am / 4:25 pm (thin, negligible glare; check app if you need minute-level timing).

🪐 Visible Planets (local windows)

Saturn — best just after dark; sets ~2:16 am. Jupiter — rises ~9:25 pm, excellent midnight→dawn. Uranus — rises ~5:31 pm, up most of night (binoculars). Venus — very low pre-dawn (~6:04 am, E); challenging. Mercury/Mars — unfavorable (too near the Sun).

🚨 Transient Alerts

(Include RA/Dec J2000 • constellation • best local window • Alt/Az at window start)

Leonids — still active after the Nov 17 peak Radiant (J2000 approx): RA ~10h 05m, Dec +22° (Leo); fast meteors; typical ZHR ~10–15 in 2025. Best local window: 3:00–6:00 am (radiant high; very thin Moon). At 4:30 am: Alt ~70°, Az ~120° (ESE) (Argyle, approx). Northern Taurids — fireball-prone Radiant (J2000): RA 03h 50m, Dec +22° (Taurus). Best local window: 9:00 pm–1:00 am (radiant climbs; Moon negligible). At 10:00 pm: Alt ~50°, Az ~100° (ESE) (Argyle, approx). (General shower data; viewing window chosen for local geometry.) Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) — fading, very low at dusk Latest reported mag: ~5.1–5.8 (rapidly fading). Sky position: Ophiuchus region on Nov 18; extremely low SW in bright twilight. Best local window: 5:45–6:15 pm (clear horizon needed).

🎯 Easy Targets (binoculars / small scope)

M31 — Andromeda Galaxy: big elongated glow; best early evening high W→NW. Visuals/info: https://theskylive.com/sky/deepsky/messier-31-andromeda-galaxy-object • NASA/Hubble: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-31/ M45 — Pleiades (Taurus): rich blue cluster; high 10 pm–2 am. Visuals/info: https://theskylive.com/sky/deepsky/messier-45-pleiades-object • NASA/Hubble: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-45/

🔗 Verified Visuals (direct, no-login)

Planets: Jupiter info/tracker https://theskylive.com/jupiter-info • https://theskylive.com/jupiter-tracker Saturn info/tracker https://theskylive.com/saturn-info • https://theskylive.com/saturn-tracker Meteors: EarthSky Leonids guide https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide/ • AMS weekly outlook https://www.amsmeteors.org/2025/11/meteor-activity-outlook-for-15-21-november-2025/ Planetarium: Stellarium Web https://stellarium-web.org/ • SIMBAD https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/ • Aladin Lite https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/AladinLite/ • SkyView https://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/current/cgi/query.pl

🌡️ Local sky/seeing note (North Texas)

Breezy and dry → good transparency; seeing likely average/soft. Use wind shadows for steadier planetary views.

🔁 Yesterday vs Today (Denton County)

Sunset: 5:25 pm → 5:24 pm (−1 min) • Sunrise: 7:01 am → 7:02 am (+1 min). Moonlight: ~4–5% → ~2–3%, heading toward new Moon on Nov 20.