What’s up in the night sky: December 2024

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: Lots of bright planets, bright stars, and a very good, but moonlight diminished, meteor shower.

All Month: Super bright Venus dominates the early evening west.  

All Month: Yellowish Saturn is visible high in the sky in the early evening.

All Month: Reddish Mars rises in the east in the mid-evening. Watch it continue to brighten as the days pass and Earth and Mars get closer in their orbits. It is now almost as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

All Month: Very Bright Jupiter is in the evening east, rising around sunset and setting around sunrise. Mars and Jupiter are in a region of the sky with several of the brightest stars and most recognizable constellations including Orion, Gemini, and Taurus.

Late in the Month: Mercury is very low in the east before dawn.

Dec. 1: New Moon

Dec. 4: The crescent Moon is near Venus

Dec. 7: Jupiter is at opposition – on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, so it's a bit brighter than other times. It will rise around sunset and set around sunrise.

Dec. 8: The Moon is very near Saturn. 

Dec. 13-14: The Geminids meteor shower peaks overnight between Dec. 13 and 14, with increased activity several days before and after. The Geminids are usually the best shower of the year with 100+ meteors per hour from a dark site, but this year a nearly Full Moon will wash out many of the meteors.

Dec. 14: The Moon is near Jupiter.

Dec. 15: Full Moon

Dec. 18: The Moon is near Mars.

Dec. 25: Mercury is at its greatest western elongation, so it's at the highest above the horizon in the pre-dawn sky that it will get for this viewing period.

Dec. 30: New Moon