December 2024: Exciting Celestial Events for you to Explore
What’s in the Sky for December 2024
• Mercury: This planet will be visible in the morning sky from mid-December to the end of the year. It will be especially bright by December 23, rising almost two hours before the sun.
• The Geminid meteor shower: This shower will be active from December 4–20, with the peak on December 14–15. However, the full moon will make it difficult to see many meteors.
• The Full Cold Moon: This moon will be visible in December.
• Jupiter, Venus, and other bright planets: These planets will be visible in the night sky.
• A crescent moon on Christmas morning: This moon will be visible before sunrise.
• Sirius and Procyon: These stars will be visible in the evening sky. Sirius, the Dog Star, will be low in the east-southeast, while Procyon, the Little Dog Star, will be in the east.
• Moon and Saturn Close Approach Dec 8th.
• Moon and Mars Close Approach/Occultation Dec 18th.
• Moon and Pleiades Close approach Dec 13th.
Solar System/Lunar Events in December
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| The Moon at perihelion | Conjunction/Close approach of the Moon and Venus. This will be in the early evening hours in W. North America | Conjunction of Ceres and Pluto. Mercury at inferior solar conjunction | Jupiter at perigee Mercury at perihelion Mars enters retrograde motion | Conjunction of Venus and Pluto Jupiter at opposition Neptune ends retrograde motion. |
||
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Moon and Saturn – Close approach conjunction and Occultation. Below the Horizon in NW North America Conjunction of Venus and Ceres Moon at First Quarter | The Moon at perigee | Close approach of the Moon and M45 (during daylight in Calgary) | The Moon at aphelion Moon and Jupiter Close Approach Asteroid 15 Eunomia at opposition |
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| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| Lunar occultation of Beta Tauri (central and south America) Full Moon | Moon and Mars Conjunction/ Close approach/ Lunar occultation. This will be an occultation in the Far North 70dN | Mercury at highest altitude in morning sky | Asteroid 15 Eunomia at opposition | |||
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Full Moon | Moon at Last Quarter | Mercury at greatest elongation west | Lunar occultation of Antares (French Polynesia) | |||
| 29 | 30 | 31 | ||||
| New Moon & perihelion |
Meteor Showers December 2024
- Dec 2nd – Pheonicid meteor shower
- Dec 5th – December φ-Cassiopeid meteor shower
- Dec 6th – Puppid-Velid meteor shower
- Dec 8th – Monocerotid meteor shower
- Dec 11th – σ-Hydrid meteor shower
- Dec 14th – Geminid meteor shower (Gemini)
- Dec 15th – Comae Berenicid meteor shower
- Dec 19th – Leonis Minorid meteor (Leo Minor)
- Dec 22nd to 24th – Ursid meteor shower (Ursa Major)
and if you see something you can Report a Fireball
Deep Sky Highlights worth observing for December 2024
- Dec 14th – The Running Man nebula NGC 1977
- Dec 14th – The Orion Nebula is well placed (M42/M43)
- Dec 28th – The cluster NGC 2232 is well placed a delightful open cluster in Monoceros
- Dec 29th – The Rosette Nebula is well placed
Comets and other stuff in December 2024
We are not expecting any new bright comets, there is information on recent comets and a link to a site that has good general information regarding comets that are active. Here