Tonight

Visible planets and night sky guide for December

Visible planets and night sky guide. A crescent moon and Venus shine in the western sky after sunset. Today, see EarthSky's video preview of the December sky.

Sign Up for Our Amazing Newsletter!

Visible planets and night sky guide for December

Visible planets and night sky guide for December

Meteor shower guide 2024: The Geminids best December 13-14

The earliest sunset comes before the winter solstice

Retrograde motion can be real or illusory

Why is Jupiter closest to Earth 1 day before opposition?

Meteors in moonlight: 6 tips for the Geminids

Subscribe now! A daily update with Science news, great photos, sky alerts.

Astronomy Essentials

2024 Geminid meteor shower: All you need to know

Venus after sunset: Shining brightly in December

Jupiter is bright late evening and in the morning sky

Comets are icy balls of gas, dust and rock

Brightest Stars

Bellatrix is Orion’s 3rd-brightest star

Mirach is your guide star to finding 3 galaxies

Algol the Demon Star … but why is it called that?

Fomalhaut is the Loneliest Star … but not in 2024

Constellations

Tucana the Toucan is home to the Small Magellanic Cloud

The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady

Pegasus the Flying Horse, and the best sky story ever

Auriga the Charioteer and bright Capella on October evenings

Clusters Nebulae Galaxies

Double Cluster in Perseus on October evenings

The Andromeda galaxy: All you need to know

The Great Rift is a dark swath in the Milky Way

The Wild Duck Cluster, M11, a lovely open cluster in Scutum

Favorite Star Patterns

The Pleiades – or 7 Sisters – known around the world

Great Square of Pegasus gallops into the autumn sky

Teapot of Sagittarius points to Milky Way center

The Northern Cross: Find the backbone of the Milky Way