December 2025

Hello and welcome to UT Skywatch!

Perhaps the best meteor shower for this year will occur on the night of the 13th and into the morning of the 14th. The Geminid Meteors are the spawn of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, and we see them from the 1st through the 21st of this month. Expect maybe 120 per hour on a perfect night, however a thin waning crescent (about 30 percent full) moon will rise at 2:11 a.m. and will be only a slight hindrance but look for sure. These are typically bright and fast meteors that display many colors. Lie on the ground in a dark sky, point your feet south and watch as they race overhead.

Mercury is in the dawn sky in the East working its way to greatest elongation West on the 7th with a separation of 21 degrees from the sun, making it fairly easy to see. An impossibly thin waning crescent moon sits next to Antares, and both are just below and to the right of Mercury on the 18th.

Saturn sets around 12:30 a.m. mid-month and is joined by a bright waxing crescent moon on the 26th.

Jupiter sets about 7:30 p.m. mid-month and will be very bright and get brighter for the rest of the month as it reaches opposition in January. A very bright, waning gibbous moon slides past Jupiter on the 6th and 7th. Get out your binoculars and see how many of the gas giant Galilean satellites you can see.

The Winter Solstice, or 1st day of winter, will occur on the 21st at 4:03 p.m. The sun will be at its lowest in the sky at local noon for the year. We will experience the longest night and the shortest day and henceforth the days will be getting longer.

The moon phases for this month are full on the 4th, last quarter on the 11th, new on the 19th, and first quarter on the 27th.