Local Sky Events
December
Check back often for updates
- Moon is full Moon Dec 4th, third quarter Dec 11th, new on Dec 20th and first quarter on Dec 27th.
- Geminid Meteor Shower peaks the morning of Dec 14th about 3 AM. Expectations are 100 meteors/hr. Also visible the evening of the 13th with no competition from the moon.
- The Winter Solstice occurs Dec 21 at 10:03 AM EST for the Northern Hemisphere and it will be the longest night of the year.
- Ursid Meteor Shower peaks about 5 AM EST the morning of the 22nd. The radiant is the bowl of the Little Dipper in the north.
- Venus is the planet to the left and below Mercury appearing to hover just barely above the horizon on the morning of Dec 6.
- Mercury has its best apparition for 2025 on the morning of the 6th, about 20 minutes before sunrise. Look to the southeast a few degrees above the horizon to see it at its greatest elongation and shining at magnitude -0.5.
- Jupiter dominates the evening sky shining bright in Gemini. It has a nice encounter with the waning gibbous moon on the 6th in the East-Northeast around 8 PM. The moon will be directly above Jupiter.
- Saturn is visible in the south in Aquarius and is visible all evening setting after midnight. Its rings are very thin now making its major moons more visible. Saturn currently has 274 moons.
Check back often for updates
- Moon is full Moon Dec 4th, third quarter Dec 11th, new on Dec 20th and first quarter on Dec 27th.
- Geminid Meteor Shower peaks the morning of Dec 14th about 3 AM. Expectations are 100 meteors/hr. Also visible the evening of the 13th with no competition from the moon.
- The Winter Solstice occurs Dec 21 at 10:03 AM EST for the Northern Hemisphere and it will be the longest night of the year.
- Ursid Meteor Shower peaks about 5 AM EST the morning of the 22nd. The radiant is the bowl of the Little Dipper in the north.
- Venus is the planet to the left and below Mercury appearing to hover just barely above the horizon on the morning of Dec 6.
- Mercury has its best apparition for 2025 on the morning of the 6th, about 20 minutes before sunrise. Look to the southeast a few degrees above the horizon to see it at its greatest elongation and shining at magnitude -0.5.
- Jupiter dominates the evening sky shining bright in Gemini. It has a nice encounter with the waning gibbous moon on the 6th in the East-Northeast around 8 PM. The moon will be directly above Jupiter.
- Saturn is visible in the south in Aquarius and is visible all evening setting after midnight. Its rings are very thin now making its major moons more visible. Saturn currently has 274 moons.
See our Links page - Sky Watching - for other events.
See Sky and Telescope Magazine (The Sky at a Glance) for more events.