Night sky in December 2026

6 min read

Key facts

Written for	Mid-northern latitudes, about 40° N
New Moon	December 9, 00:52 UTC
Full Moon	December 24, 01:28 UTC (near perigee)
December solstice	December 21, 20:50 UTC
Evening planets	Saturn in the south; Jupiter rising late evening
Morning planets	Venus (about −4.8), Mars and Jupiter
Geminids	Peak December 14 (ZHR about 150), Moon about 24% lit
Ursids	Peak December 22 (ZHR about 10), Moon about 96% lit
Equipment needed	None; warm clothes matter most

In short

The Geminids, the strongest shower of the year, peak on December 14 with a thin crescent Moon that sets in the evening.
The December solstice falls on December 21 at 20:50 UTC, bringing the longest night of the year in the north.
The Full Moon of December 24 comes within a day of perigee, making it the closest Full Moon of 2026.
Saturn rules the early evening; Jupiter rises in Leo by mid-evening and Venus shines in the east before dawn.
The Moon passes the Pleiades on December 21 and Jupiter and Regulus on December 27.

About this guide

This guide describes the sky from mid-northern latitudes, about 40 degrees north: Türkiye, southern Europe and the central United States. Times are in Universal Time (UTC); convert to your own time zone. Positions were calculated with Astronomy Engine for an observer at 40° N.

"Evening" means about an hour after sunset and "morning" about an hour before sunrise. Brightness is in magnitudes; smaller numbers are brighter, and negative numbers are very bright.

From the Southern Hemisphere, December brings the shortest nights and the summer solstice; the Moon phases and meteor peaks fall on the same dates, but the Geminid radiant sits lower in the northern sky.

Moon phases and the solstice

Last quarter falls on December 1 at 06:09 UTC. New Moon is on December 9 at 00:52 UTC, and first quarter on December 17 at 05:43 UTC.

The Full Moon arrives on December 24 at 01:28 UTC, about seven hours before perigee, when the Moon is about 221,600 miles away. This makes it the closest Full Moon of 2026, often called a supermoon; it looks only slightly larger than usual. The month ends with last quarter on December 30 at 19:00 UTC.

The December solstice is on December 21 at 20:50 UTC. At that moment the Sun is farthest south in our sky, so northern observers get the shortest day and the longest night. There are no eclipses in December.

Planets this month

Saturn is the evening planet, about 45–50 degrees up in the south an hour after sunset, at about magnitude 0.7 in Cetus. It fades a little as Earth pulls ahead of it, but its rings are still an easy telescope target. Uranus, in Taurus near the Pleiades, is high in the east for binoculars.

Jupiter, at about magnitude −2.3, rises in the east around 21:30 UTC in mid-December and earlier as the month goes on. By the small hours it is high in the south in Leo, with Mars, now about magnitude 0.2, a few degrees away. Both are moving toward their oppositions in February 2027.

Venus is a brilliant morning star at about magnitude −4.8, roughly 25 degrees up in the southeast an hour before sunrise. Mercury is too close to the Sun to see this month.

The Moon meets planets and stars

On the morning of December 4, the waning crescent Moon is about 2 degrees from Spica, with Venus below them toward the horizon. On December 5 the thinner crescent sits about 7 degrees from Venus in the morning twilight.

On the evening of December 18, the waxing Moon is about 6 degrees from Saturn. On the evening of December 21, the solstice night, the bright gibbous Moon passes about 1 degree from the Pleiades.

Late on December 27 and into the morning of December 28, the waning gibbous Moon passes about 1.5 degrees from Jupiter, with Regulus and Mars close by in Leo.

Geminids and Ursids

The Geminids come from the rocky object 3200 Phaethon rather than a comet. The IMO 2026 calendar gives the peak on December 14 with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of about 150; ZHR assumes a perfectly dark sky with the radiant overhead, so expect fewer from most places. Even so, dozens per hour are likely from a dark site.

The timing is excellent this year. The Moon is only about 24 percent lit at the peak and sets at about 21:40 UTC from 40° N. The radiant near Castor in Gemini rises in the early evening and is high around 2 a.m. local time, so the hours after moonset are best.

The Ursids peak on December 22 with a ZHR of about 10, radiating from near the Little Dipper. This year a 96 percent lit Moon washes out most of them, so treat any you catch as a bonus.

Constellations in the evening

Early in the evening, the Great Square of Pegasus and Andromeda lie high in the southwest, and Cassiopeia is nearly overhead. Perseus and the Double Cluster, a pair of star clusters fine in binoculars, sit high in the northeast.

By mid-evening the winter stars take over the east: Taurus with the Pleiades and red Aldebaran, Auriga with Capella, Gemini with Castor and Pollux, and Orion rising with Betelgeuse and Rigel. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, follows Orion up in the southeast later in the evening.

Tonight's checklist

Check the Moon first: the evenings from about December 3 to 14 are darkest. Dress warmly, since December nights are cold and you will be standing still.

Evening: Saturn in the south, the Pleiades in the east, Orion later. Late night and morning: Jupiter and Mars in Leo, Venus low in the southeast before dawn.

For the Geminids, choose a site away from lights, lie back after about 22:00 local time on December 13–14 and look about halfway up. Give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adapt.