The December solstice happens at 10:02 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on December 21, 2020. That time - the moment of solstice - marks the sun's southernmost point for this year.
December solstice sunrise comes at the same time for St. Augustine, Florida, and New York City. But St. Augustine has an hour more of daylight than New York. Here's why.
The 2 bright shining objects near the moon - December 15 to 18, 2020 - will be Jupiter and Saturn. These 2 giant planets are now nearing their great conjunction on December 21. Don't miss this!
Why is the Geminid meteor shower best around 2 a.m.? It's because that's when the shower's radiant point - near the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini - is highest in the sky.
The waning moon passes bright Spica - Virgo's sole 1st-magnitude star - before sunup on December 10, 2020. As viewed from across Earth that morning, the illuminated side of the moon points in the direction of brilliant Venus.
Let the waning gibbous moon show you Regulus, Leo's brightest star, as the moon parades through the constellation Leo the Lion these next several days!
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.