Night Sky December 2026: What to See in the US and Canada

December 2026 is a month to plan around two moon phases. A new moon on December 8 sets up the Geminids, the best meteor shower of the year, to peak under a thin crescent on the night of December 13 into December 14, and a full Cold Moon on December 23 takes over the sky just after the solstice. The headline dates: the Geminids peak December 13 to 14, the December solstice arrives December 21, the Ursids peak December 22 under a bright moon, and the Cold Moon is full the evening of December 23, per the US Naval Observatory (opens in new tab). Below: every moon phase in Eastern time, the planets, the meteor showers, close pairings, the winter constellations, and the weekend to pick for a dark-sky trip.

December 2026 Moon Phases

Daylight Saving Time ended on November 1, so every time below is Eastern Standard Time (EST). The phase moments come from the US Naval Observatory (opens in new tab), which lists them in Universal Time; we subtracted five hours. Central is one hour earlier, Mountain two, Pacific three.

The Farmers' Almanac (opens in new tab) lists the December full moon as the Cold Moon, a name tied to the start of winter, when the Moon spends a long part of the night above the horizon. Our Cold Moon supermoon page notes that the Moon is near its closest approach to Earth this time, so it looks slightly larger and brighter than an average full moon, and it suggests watching just after moonrise, when the Moon sits low on the horizon. The full moon falls on a Wednesday evening, so the nights of December 22 and 23 are the ones to look up. Track tonight's phase or moonrise in your city on /moon, and see /moon-phases for the full set of names.

Planets Visible in December 2026

Venus is the brilliant morning object all month, low in the east before sunrise and visible through December 31, Space.com's 2026 planet guide (opens in new tab) notes. It passed its greatest brilliancy on November 29, so it is still very bright. A thin crescent Moon sits about 7 degrees from Venus around December 5, per Sterngucker's December guide (opens in new tab).

Mercury is on its way out. Its morning visibility continues only through about December 4, per Space.com, and EarthSky (opens in new tab) says it slips away by mid-December. If you want one more look, try the first few mornings of the month, low in the east-southeast before sunrise.

Jupiter and Mars are morning planets in Leo. Jupiter stays in Leo through the end of the year and rises earlier each week, so by late December it is up in the late evening. Mars brightens to about magnitude -0.1 by late December and rivals the star Arcturus in brightness and color, Space.com reports (opens in new tab). Both climb higher toward dawn, and the Moon passes near them around December 27 and 28 (details below).

Saturn is the evening planet, visible in the evening sky through December 31 per Space.com, and it remains the best telescope target of the month once it is dark. Sterngucker puts it about 39 degrees up in the south at 6 p.m. local time on December 24. Uranus, just past its November 25 opposition, is still up much of the night in Taurus and is a binocular target from a dark site. Neptune is an evening telescope target that sets around midnight.

Geminids and Ursids: Two Meteor Showers in One Month

The Geminids are the shower to plan around. EarthSky (opens in new tab) gives the predicted peak as 5:44 UTC on December 14, which is 12:44 a.m. EST that night, so the best viewing runs from the evening of December 13 through the early hours of December 14, with the highest rates around 2 a.m. local time. The theoretical maximum is about 120 meteors per hour under perfect conditions, and EarthSky says that on a dark night near the peak you can expect at least 50 per hour. The meteors seem to radiate from near the bright star Castor in Gemini, which rises in the east in mid-evening, but they show up all over the sky, so just lie back and look broadly. A waxing crescent Moon will not interfere: the American Meteor Society (opens in new tab) lists it at about 15 percent lit on peak night, and the first quarter Moon does not arrive until December 17. Our Geminid Meteor Shower 2026 page is the full guide, with the peak-night timeline, gear list and viewing map, and the site's Geminids 2026 event page has the date at a glance. All showers are listed on /meteor-showers.

The Ursids are the quiet cousin. EarthSky lists the predicted peak at 20:59 UTC on December 22, which is 3:59 p.m. EST that afternoon, so the practical window is the night of December 21 into the early hours of December 22, ideally before sunrise. Rates are usually 5 to 10 meteors per hour, with rare bursts of around 100. This year the Moon is a bright gibbous, about 89 percent lit on the peak night per the American Meteor Society, and EarthSky expects it to hide all but the brightest Ursids. The radiant sits in the north near Kochab, a star in the Little Dipper's bowl, so face north and keep the Moon behind a building or tree if you can. See the Ursids 2026 event page.

Notable Conjunctions and Close Approaches

• December 5 (before sunrise): A thin crescent Moon about 7 degrees from Venus in the east-southeast, per Sterngucker (opens in new tab).
• December 17 (evening): The first quarter Moon about 8 degrees from Saturn, both high in the south, per Sterngucker.
• December 21 (3:30 p.m. EST): The December solstice, the astronomical start of winter, at 20:30 UTC, per EarthSky (opens in new tab). See the December Solstice 2026 event page.
• December 27 and 28 (morning): The waning Moon passes about 7 degrees from Jupiter on the 27th and about 7 degrees from Mars on the 28th, per Sterngucker.

The dates for Moon pairings are based on a European calendar, so allow for a day's difference in North America and check the exact angle in a planetarium app on the day.

Constellations High in December Evenings

December evenings belong to the winter sky. Orion rises in the early evening and climbs highest around midnight, with the Orion Nebula (M42) hanging below his belt, Sterngucker's guide (opens in new tab) says. Around Orion sits the Winter Hexagon of bright stars: Sirius, Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux and Procyon. Taurus with the Pleiades is high in the southeast, Auriga and Gemini are climbing in the east, and Sirius clears the horizon in mid-evening. Pegasus and Andromeda are still in the west early in the evening, so the fall sky overlaps with the winter one for the first couple of hours. Sterngucker names December 5 to 15 as the best deep-sky window, between the new moon and the full moon. See our /constellations guide for each season's patterns, and /stargazing-for-beginners if you want a gentle start.

Aurora Outlook for December 2026

NOAA's forecasting panel put the peak of Solar Cycle 25 around July 2025, give or take eight months, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (opens in new tab), so December falls after the predicted maximum. Storms can still happen, and December gives northern states and Canada their longest nights of the year to catch one. Nobody can name a storm date weeks in advance, so check the SWPC aurora dashboard (opens in new tab) a few days before you go, and see our /northern-lights guide for where to look and what to pack.

Best New-Moon Weekend for a Dark-Sky Trip

Pick Friday to Sunday, December 11 to 13. The new moon falls at 7:52 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, December 8, per the US Naval Observatory (opens in new tab), so by that weekend the Moon is only a thin crescent that sets early in the evening, leaving most of the night dark. Sunday night, December 13, is the Geminid peak night, which means you can pair the darkest stretch of the month with the strongest meteor shower of the year, per EarthSky (opens in new tab). If weather blocks Sunday, Saturday night still delivers a good rate. Use our /plan tool to line this up with a trip near you, or browse certified sites on /dark-sky-parks. A backup: the weekend of December 4 to 6 has a waning crescent that rises before dawn, which is darker than average but without the meteor bonus.

Week-by-Week: December 2026 at a Glance

For the other events on the calendar, see /events.