Sky Events
December 2024
December 1: New Moon
December 4: Conjunction of the Moon and Venus, with an angular separation of 2°15′
December 7: Jupiter at opposition
December 8: First Quarter Moon, with a conjunction with Saturn
December 14: The Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak activity of up to 120 meteors per hour.
December 14: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, with an angular separation of 5°28′
December 14: The Orion Nebula is well-placed for observation.
December 15: Full Moon
December 18: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars, with an angular separation of 54′
December 21: Winter Solstice
December 22: Third Quarter Moon
December 22: The Ursid meteor shower reaches its peak activity at up to 10 meteors per hour.
December 25: Mercury at its greatest western elongation
December 29: The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros is well-placed for observation.
Planets in December
Mercury: Inferior conjunction on December 6. Excellent morning planet at the end of December.
Venus: Excellent position in the evening sky, setting over four hours after sunset by the end of December.
Mars: Excellent planet approaching opposition next month.
Jupiter: Reaches opposition on December 7. Excellent position all month!
Saturn: Well-placed evening planet in early December.
January 2025
January 1: The open star cluster M41 in Canis Major is well-placed for observation.
January 3: The Quadrantid meteor shower reaches peak activity of about 120 meteors per hour.
January 4: The Earth reaches perihelion, the point closest to the Sun in its orbit.
January 4: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn, with an angular separation of 40′
January 6: First Quarter Moon
January 10: Venus at its greatest eastern elongation
January 10: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, with an angular separation of 5°25′
January 13: Full Moon
January 13: Lunar Occultation of Mars
January 14: The open star cluster M47 in Puppis is well-placed for observation.
January 15: Mars reaches opposition
January 18: The planets Venus and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 2°10′ of each other.
January 21: Third Quarter Moon
January 29: New Moon
January 30: The Beehive open star cluster in Cancer will be well-placed for observation
Planets in January
Mercury: Visible low in the dawn twilight, lost after January 9th
Venus: Greatest elongation on January 10th, near Saturn on January 18th and Neptune on January 31st
Mars: Reaches opposition January 16th, great for observing all month long
Jupiter: Well-placed evening planet in Taurus
Saturn: Occulted by the Moon on January 4th, early evening