Listen to this episode on Sky & Telescope’s YouTube channel.

If you want to find out when and where to find all five bright planets during December, then this month’s Sky Tour episode is a must! Let’s start with Venus, which is well up in the southwest as evening twilight fades, and it’s gradually getting higher. Venus is truly brilliant — it’s at least a dozen times brighter than any other nighttime star.

Once it gets good and dark, look diagonally to the upper left of Venus, higher up toward south, and you’ll bump into Saturn. Now, this is not the most dazzling of planets, but there’s an easy way to spot Saturn — just follow the Moon! Its razor-thin crescent skirts past Venus on the 4th, then three nights later, on the 7th, you’ll find the Moon to the lower right of Saturn.

But Jupiter is the headliner for this month’s planet parade. As it gets dark, turn around so your back is toward where the Sun set and feast your eyes on brilliant Jupiter rising low in the east. Jupiter can’t quite match the brilliance of Venus, but right now it comes pretty close. On December 7th, the King of Planets reaches opposition, meaning it appears opposite the Sun in our sky. It also means that Jupiter is just about as close to us as it can get.

As you watch Jupiter, make a mental note of where it is with respect to the horizon, and check the time. Then look in that same spot 4 hours later, and you’ll be greeted by another bright planet — Mars. It’s bringing up the rear in this month’s four-planet parade.

The only bright planet that’s missing is Mercury, but December offers a good chance to see it as well. You’ll need to be up before dawn during the final days of 2024. Look toward southeast starting about 45 minutes before sunrise. Mercury is making its best predawn appearance of the year, so spotting it should be fairly easy.

Meanwhile, the stars of winter are gradually pivoting into view, led by Orion, which rises in the east not long after nightfall. And December is also the month of the Geminid meteor shower, arguably the year’s best display of “shooting stars.”

To find out when and where to see the Geminids, listen to this month’s Sky Tour episode! You’ll enjoy a lighthearted yet informative romp among the month’s prominent celestial sights. Why not listen now?

Read the full podcast transcript.