Sky Guide December 2016

What to look out, and up, for in December.

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:

• Venus shining brilliantly in the evening sky
• Mercury at greatest elongation on 11th December
• Jupiter returns to our late night skies

Next up is the meteor showers and December brings us the greatest of them all:

• The Geminids peaking on the night of 13/14th December

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Jeni – IC 1396 - The Elephant Trunk Nebula in Cepheus
• Paul – M78 – a reflection nebula in Orion
• Ralph – NGC 246 the Skull Nebula in Cetus

And we finish this sky guide with December’s moon phases.