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Maps: NASA Blue Marble, Black Marble, LRO, MESSENGER, Cassini, New Horizons · Mars: NASA/JPL/USGS Viking mosaic, relief from MGS MOLA (NASA/GSFC, 6x vertical exaggeration) · Jupiter: Hubble OPAL 2019, NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC), M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) (CC BY 4.0), enhanced colour · Sun's limb: NASA/SDO AIA 304 Å · Sun, Saturn, Saturn's rings, Uranus, Neptune, clouds, relief: Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0) · Moons and small worlds: NASA/JPL/USGS; Io, Ganymede, Titan, Triton via CelestiaContent (CC BY, Askaniy Anpilogov et al.); Mimas, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Ceres, Vesta via Stellarium (CC BY 4.0, Oleg Pluton, FarGetaNik) · Bennu, Ryugu, Itokawa, Eros, Arrokoth: shape models NASA PDS / OSIRIS-REx / NEAR / New Horizons (CC0), Ryugu ISAS/JAXA (CC BY 4.0); maps via CelestiaContent (Askaniy Anpilogov, Roman Tkachenko; Stooke, NASA PDS; CC BY) · Orbits: JPL, Minor Planet Center; asteroids and comets: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database (via KStars) · Spacecraft trajectories: NASA/JPL Horizons · Rotation: IAU WGCCRE · Data: NASA NSSDC
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The night sky in December 2026

What happens in the sky in December 2026, worked out from orbital data. Open the calendar to see each event in 3D. Times in UTC.

6 sky events this month
  • 9 Wed New Moon · around 12:57 AM
    The Moon is on the Sun's side of the sky and can't be seen. The nights around it are the darkest of the month, the best for the Milky Way and faint meteors.
  • 14 Mon Geminid meteor shower peaks (about 150 an hour in ideal skies)
    Dust shed by asteroid 3200 Phaethon burns up high in our air. The meteors seem to fly out of one point, the radiant. Best after midnight, far from city lights; the Moon is 25% lit that night.
  • 21 Mon December solstice · around 08:48 PM
    The Sun reaches its furthest south. The shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the longest in the southern.
  • 22 Tue Ursid meteor shower peaks (about 10 an hour in ideal skies)
    Dust shed by comet Tuttle burns up high in our air. The meteors seem to fly out of one point, the radiant. Best after midnight, far from city lights; the Moon is 98% lit that night.
  • 24 Thu Full Moon · around 01:40 AM
    The Moon is opposite the Sun, so its whole face is lit. It rises around sunset and is up all night.
  • 27 Sun The Moon passes Jupiter, about 1.2° apart · around 05:00 PM
    The Moon moves about its own width across the stars every hour, so it passes each planet about once a month. The gap is as seen from Earth's centre; from where you stand it can differ by up to a degree. In the east before sunrise.