Skywatcher's Guide: December 2025 and January 2026

Skywatcher's Guide written by: Lucas Snyder (Flandrau Planetarium Specialist)

Navigation

• Stars and Constellations
• Solar System
• Calendar of Night Sky Events
• Deep Sky
• Frequently Asked Questions

Stars and Constellations

In December, the summer constellations are still visible for the first few hours of the night towards the west.  The Summer Triangle is still fairly high, with Vega heading to the west-northwest, Deneb closest to the zenith, and Altair in the west-southwest.  The center of the Milky Way is now below the horizon, but there is still a good portion of our galaxy we can see streaking high across the sky. The fall sky is now very prominent, getting high in the eastern sky.  The "W" of Cassiopeia is very high in the north-northeast. In the absence of the Big Dipper (part of our spring sky) Cassiopeia can be used to locate the north star: The top (open side) of the "W" faces to the north, so in that direction look for a star about the same brightness as the main stars in Casssiopeia, and that will most likely be Polaris.  Next, the Great Square of Pegasus is nearly in the middle of the sky.  Andromeda is nearby in the northeast, with Perseus just below.  There is also a fairly bright star called Fomalhaut in the south, though its constellation Piscis Austrinus is not easy to distinguish.  Finally, the winter sky is beginning to come up along the eastern horizon.  Taurus the bull is now up in the east with the bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades (aka the seven sisters or Subaru) star cluster.  Auriga the charioteer is also up in the northeast, with the bright star Capella.

In January, the summer constellations are now very low in the west.  Deneb is the highest point of the Summer Triangle in the northwest, with Vega below near the horizon, and Altair more towards the west.  The Milky Way continues to streak across the sky, though the summer portion is now giving way to the winter portion.  The fall constellations are now right in the middle of the sky.  More of the winter constellations are now up, most notably Orion the hunter in the east below Taurus.  Gemini the twins are also up in the east-northeast just below Auriga.

Interesting Stars Visible in December and January (from 7 to 10 PM)

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Solar System

Mercury is visible in the morning sky for most of December but will be passing behind the Sun in January.

Venus is passing behind the Sun in early January, so it won't be visible at all in this time period.

Mars is also passing behind the Sun in January and won't be visible at all in this time period.

Jupiter is visible in the west before sunrise, slowly descending until early January.  After that it will be visible in the evening sky, rising in the east.

Saturn is high in the south after sunset in December and moves more toward the west until the end of January.

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Jupiter Great Red Spot Transits in December and January (from 7 to 10 PM)

Note: The GRS is visible on the disk of Jupiter for 50 minutes before and after meridian transit time.

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Calendar of Night Sky Events

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Deep Sky

The summer Milky Way is now partially below the horizon at the beginning of the night, but the winter Milky Way is getting more and more prominent.  There are many open star clusters that can be seen with only binoculars scanning this part of the sky.  For example we have the asterism of the Coathanger between Aquila and Cygnus in the fainter constellation of Vulpecula.  The Pleiades (M45) is visible naked-eye in the east just above the face of Taurus which itself is another cluster called the Hyades.  We also have the Double Cluster in Perseus high in the north-northeast.  Finally, the constellation of Auriga in the northeast contains M36, M37, and M38 in close proximity.

There aren't as many globular clusters we can see this time of year, but there are still a few.  M15 is visible near the head of Pegasus in the west-southwest.  The next brightest one is M2 in Aquarius to the southwest.

For nebulae, we have several in the plane of the galaxy, one of which is the North America Nebula (C20) to the west-northwest in Cygnus.  The spectacular Orion Nebula (M42) is now just rising at the beginning of the night in the east. For planetary nebulae we have the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra, the Dumbell Nebula (M27) in Vulpecula, and the Blue Snowball (C22) in Andromeda.

And now the galaxies:  Our neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is now very high in the middle of the sky and is visible on dark nights with the naked eye.  Also nearby is the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), visible with binoculars.

Interesting Deep Sky Objects to Observe during December and January (from 7 to 10 PM)

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Frequently Asked Questions

What’s happening in space in 2026?

There are lots of things to look forward to as we head into the new year.  First, we have a couple lunar eclipses visible from Tucson: a total eclipse in March and a partial eclipse in August.

For meteor showers, our best viewing will be for the Lyrids in April, the Perseids in August, and the Geminids in December.

There are a lot of solar system exploration missions scheduled to launch in 2026. (Disclaimer: launch dates are subject to change!)  To the Moon, we have Blue Moon in January, Artemis 2 in February, IM-3 in the first quarter, Griffin and Blue Ghost M2 in the second quarter, Starship HLS mid-year, Chang’e 7 in August, APEX 1.0 and Griffin II in the fourth quarter, and Harmony 1 and Cadensys at undetermined dates.  To other planets, we have Venus Life Finder and VOICE going to Venus and MMX and Impulse Mars going to Mars, all at undetermined dates.  Another significant event is the private space station Haven-1 launching in May and its first crew launching in June.  There are also several space telescopes and particle detectors being launched throughout the year.

As for spacecraft already in space, there are a few encounters worth mentioning:  Psyche will fly by Mars in May, Tianwen-2 will arrive at Kamo'oalewa in June and take a sample in July, Hayabusa2 will fly by Torifune in July, BepiColombo will enter orbit around Mercury in November, and Hera will reach Didymos in December.

Finally, a few significant anniversaries:  it will be 25 years since NEAR landed on Eros (first asteroid landing), 25 years that Mars Odyssey has been in operation (longest serving extraterrestrial orbiter), and 50 years since Viking 1 and 2 arrived at Mars (first successful Mars landers).

If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in the next issue of SWG, please let me know.  I'm also happy to take suggestions or comments, and also pictures if you'd like to send them.  Happy viewing!

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Date of publication: 2025