With a full Moon, a new Moon, and some planetary interaction with Mars and Jupiter throughout, the Moon has a packed social calendar for December. Find out what’s up this month and pencil in some time to gaze up:
• Dec. 1 – Look in the southwest this evening to find the Moon only a couple of finger-widths apart from planet Jupiter
• Dec. 7 – Full Moon
• Dec. 7 – The Moon occults, or covers up, Mars tonight. In the U.S., Mars slips behind the Moon for viewers everywhere outside the East Coast and Southeast, where the Moon will appear to just barely graze past Mars. Check your favorite stargazing app or website for the timing of the disappearance and reappearance of Mars
• Dec. 23 – New moon
• Dec. 25-31 – Wrap up the year gazing at the planets. Watch each evening as the increasingly full Moon slides past Saturn on the 26th and then past Jupiter on the 28th.
All month, find the constellation Pegasus high in the south-southwest after dark. Look for bright Jupiter and find the Great Square of Pegasus about 15 degrees above it.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
