In the Sky This Month

It might be winter, but the Sun is biggest and closest to us for the entire year today. Earth is at a point in its orbit called perihelion. The Sun is about 91.4 million miles away, or about 1.5 million miles closer than average.

The Little Dipper stands in the north every night. The star at the tip of its handle is Polaris, the North Star, which is in the same position in the sky night after night. The dipper’s other stars rotate around Polaris and, seen from the U.S., they never set.

As the night grows late and 2024 approaches, take a look at the sky for some beautiful and colorful lights. The Moon will be in the east at midnight with Sirius, the night’s brightest star, in the south, and the constellation Orion to the upper right of Sirius.

The Moon slides between two bright stars of Leo tonight. They climb into good view in mid-evening, with Regulus, the lion’s brightest star, to the lower right of the Moon. Algieba, the third-brightest, is about the same distance to the lower left.

Two star clusters stand side by side high in the sky this evening. The clusters are at a corner of Perseus, the hero. Together, they are known as the Double Cluster. Binoculars or a telescope reveal dozens of individual stars.

Procyon is low in the east by about 8 p.m. and climbs high across the south later on. The star is the leading light of Canis Minor, the little dog, so it is nicknamed the Little Dog Star. It’s about 11 light-years away.

Gemini is in prime viewing time during these early weeks of winter. The constellation is low in the east-northeast at nightfall, and remains in view all night. Tonight, the Moon is passing through the constellation’s middle.

The Moon is full today as it aligns opposite the Sun as seen in Earth’s sky. December’s full Moon is known as the Moon Before Yule or Long-Night Moon, indicating that it’s in view longer than any other full Moon of the year.

The Moon and two bright planets highlight the early evening sky. As twilight fades, look in the southwest for Saturn, which looks like a bright star. From there, look high in the southeast for brilliant Jupiter, far to the upper right of the almost-full Moon.

Christmas Eve night gets off to a beautiful start as the fat gibbous Moon pairs up with Aldebaran, the bright star that marks the eye of the celestial bull. Aldebaran will be a bit farther from the Moon as they set, before dawn.