Events, Moon, Planets in December Home Page Evènements du mois Monthly Sky Charts

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.Events .Moon .Planets .Minor Planets, NEOs .Comets .Shooting Stars .Occultations .Sun .check more! (occultations observers are advised to check in 'Events', and to turn to such dedicated sites like the I.O.T.A).. don't forget to check the weather! For the US: the NOAA . color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. check the site's concept and the instructions of use

Editor's Choice Fine Picture Editor's Choice Sky At Tech News color codes: Wwd worldwide, UsA USA-Americas, EuA Europe-Africa, AsP Asia-Pacific, Chk Check for Your Zone. check the site's concept and the instructions of use

Events Home Page

.Events Seen All Month Long .Ephemerides Proper

(data from yearly ephemerides generator at Fred Espenak's NASA's eclipse website; miscellaneous data with the 'Astronomical Phenomena for The Year 2017,' a joint work by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and the U.S. Naval Observatory; to be found at the latter's site; all time UT except otherwise stated)

Jupiter is closing to Mars as both planets are morning stars, since Dec. 27! Fine visual and photographic opportunities. Star Zuben Elgenubi is in the field, of constellation Libra, the Scales

Jupiter closing Mars! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

Wwd The three stars of the Summer Triangle, that distinctive feature of the skies by summer, are seen, in the northern hemisphere only, like high evening stars West. Fine views! Also of interest is that Vega and Deneb, two of those three stars, are reappearing with dawn, like morning stars, northeast!

The Summer Triangle, in the northern hemisphere, is seen by twilight! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

Wwd A set of fine constellations embedded into the Milky Way is seen South by dawn at the Tropics. Fine views!

Fine constellations are seen South, by dawn, at the Tropics, embedded into the Milky Way! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

3 Wwd Aldebaran, the bright star to constellation Taurus, the Bull is occulted by Moon by 13:00 UT! check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.); check too below

4 Wwd Moon is at its perigee at 08:42 UT (distances non available)

5 Wwd Moon reaches a northernmost declination at 11:43 UT

Wwd 7 The Geminids, one among the most active shooting stars showers in the year, usually begin to be active today as they are until next Dec. 17. They usually are peaking on Dec. 13-14 more at the date of the peak

8 (1) Wwd Regulus, the bright star to constellation Leo, the Lion is occulted by Moon by 23:00 UT! check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.); check too below

8 (2) Wwd Moon is at a ascending node at 00:39 UT

12 Wwd Tomorrow by dawn, by all latitudes, last crescent is close to Mars as Jupiter is not that far. Fine!

Moon close to Mars by dawn, as Jupiter not that far! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

13 Wwd The Geminids usually are peaking on Dec. 13-14 more back

14 Wwd Minor planet Vesta is occulted by Moon by 19:00 UT! check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.); check too below

19 Wwd Moon is at its apogee at 01:27 UT (distances non available) as it reaches a southernmost declination that same day by 09:31 UT

21 Wwd It is the winter solstice today, by 16:29. It is winter North and summer South! see more about the seasons

22 Wwd Moon is at a descending node at 10:04 UT

30 UsA EuA Waxing gibbous, at all latitudes, is close to Aldebaran tonight. Fine views! There is a occultation for some areas in the world. check more at occultations below

Moon close to Aldebaran! There is a occultation for some areas in the world! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

31 Wwd Aldebaran, the bright star to constellation Taurus, the Bull is occulted by Moon by 01:00 UT! check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.); check too below

Occultations observers are advised to turn to such dedicated sites like the I.O.T.A as they may also check below at our Occultation section

Moon Home Page

Full Moon is on December 3rd, at 15:47 UT
Last Quarter is on December 10th, at 07:51 UT
New Moon is on December 18th, at 06:31 UT
First Quarter is on December 26th, at 09:20 UT

(source: ephemeris generator at Fred Espenak's NASA's eclipse website)

Planets Home Page

Mercury is reaching a inferior conjunction on December 13th by 01:40. During this month, Mercury is transitioning from being a evening, to a morning star. The show is fine in the northern hemisphere in the latter case as the evening occurences only are barely interesting at the Tropics or the southern hemisphere

Mercury fine like a morning star in the northern hemisphere! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

Venus now is unobservable nowhere worldwide as the planet is bound to a superior conjunction next month

Mars now is a high morning star in the northern hemisphere. And the same at the Tropics or the southern hemisphere -- somewhat lower in that latter case

Mars, Jupiter fine morning stars! picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon Stellarium

Jupiter now has reappeared like a fine morning star worldwide

Saturn is unobservable nowhere worldwide by December because the ringed planet is reaching its yearly conjuntion on December 21st by 20:18. check more about such a configuration of a planet in our tutorial 'Planets Apparent Motion'. A ring maximum aperture is reached in 2017

Uranus now keeps high, southwest, in the northern hemisphere. The faraway world is very high, tending West, at the Tropics, and the same, well before northwest in the southern hemisphere

Neptune is now low by 10:30 p.m. local time in the northern hemisphere as a early twilight allows for observation still. Neptune keeps observable in the Tropics or the southern hemisphere (albeit lower in that latter case)

Pluto now is closing his conjunction which will occur next month. Pluto is not observable wherever worldwide(according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since 2006, Pluto is not considered a planet anymore, but categorized like a dwarf planet instead along with Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea, and the prototype of a new category of 'trans-Neptunian', 'Pluto-class' objects)

Minor Planets, NEOs Home Page

.Minor Planets .Nearest NEOs

Minor Planets

Minor planets are those biggest asteroids in the Asteroid Belt which may be easily observed by amateurs from the Earth, namely Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta (due to the new categorization by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) by 2006, Ceres belongs to the 5 dwarf planets in the solar system with Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea). check data and charts at our section Minor Planets on the yearly Calendar page as our tutorial 'Asteroids and Asteroid Hunting' is of help too. Any remarkable event linked to a minor planet may have a notice here below

Nearest NEOs

Some small asteroids dubbed Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are regularly making close approaches at Earth. People interested in such close approaches may obtain recent and upcoming data at NASA site Near-Earth Object Program (their section "Close Approaches"). Date, miss distance in AU or Lunar Distance (LD), estimated diameter, and relative velocity are available. For further observational purposes, check at the Near-Earth Object Program ephemeris Generator. For more about NEOs see tutorial "About NEOs"

Comets Home Page

Once every time, the solar system treats us with a remarkable comet, a eery view spanning up to thirty degrees of sky! Most of the time however comets are the domain of dedicated observers as mostly weak and, at the most, hovering at the limit of the naked-eye visibility. A good site to get information about current such comets is the British Astronomical Association Comet Section page or also the Weekly Information about Bright Comets page (which often points to comets close to the visual magnitude). Our 'Comets and Comet Hunting' tutorial will also be helpful. Remarkable comets otherwise usually will be presented below!

Shooting Stars Home Page

->of note: dates of swarms and peaks as given below are the average ones. More refined dates may be given in the Ephemerids section

->note: shooting stars afficionados will be aware of checking Moon at the dates of the showers

• Puppids-Velids are usually active Dec. 1-15 with their peak usually about Dec. 7. Their radiant is at R.A. 123° and dec. -45°. They have a hourly rate of 10
• Geminids back are usually active Dec. 7-17 with their peak usually on Dec. 13-14. Their radiant is at R.A. 112° and dec. +33°. They have a hourly rate of 120, placing them among the most important meteor showers of the year
• Ursids are usually active Dec. 17-26 with their peak usually on Dec. 22-23. Their radiant is at R.A. 217° and dec. +76°. They have a hourly rate of 10
• Shooting stars afficionados may turn to such dedicated sites like IMO, The International Meteor Organization for more about the above and about possible minor showers this month

for more about the meteor showers of this month, for possible other meteor showers for this month, and for more about shooting stars, generally, see our tutorial "Shooting Stars"

Occultations Home Page

Each month, Moon occults some relatively bright stars, that is the Moon, beginning either with its bright or its dark visible face, is passing in front of a star. This is called an occultation. The Pleiades, on the other hand, due to their position near the eclipic, are often occulted by Moon too. Some planets, at last, along the year, may be occulted by Moon or they themselves, or their satellites, may be seen too occulting a star. The asteroids too may occult stars. Yearly lists of such phenomenons are to be found at Sky & Telescope/SkyTonight.com, either in their newsstand issues or at their site, as a list of occultations of most brilliant stars, the planets and the Pleiades are available at the I.O.T.A site (I.O.T.A. stands for "The International Occultation Timing Association"). Most notable occultations are signaled below

Aldebaran, the bright star to constellation Taurus is occulted by Moon on December 12th, 2016 for some regions in the USA-Americas area! check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

Aldebaran back, the bright star to constellation Taurus, the Bull is occulted by Moon on December 3rd by 13:00 UT! The show is available in Central and N. Asia, N. Greenland, N.W. North America. check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

Regulus back, the bright star to constellation Leo, the Lion is occulted by Moon on December 8th by 23:00 UT! The show is available in N.E. and Central Europe, N. Greenland, N. Asia, N. parts of Micronesia. check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

Minor planet Vesta back is occulted by Moon on December 14th by 19:00 UT! The show is available in Central Polynesia, parts of Chile and Argentina. check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

Aldebaran back, the bright star to constellation Taurus, the Bull is occulted by Moon on December 31st by 01:00 UT! The show is available in most of North America, Greenland, Europe except S., W. Russia . check more at such sites like "The International Occultation Timing Association" (I.O.T.A.)

check on this site for more about occultations, theoretically

Sun Home Page

click to last Sun