Star Watch for December

MINNESOTA STARWATCH FOR DECEMBER 2025

By Deane Morrison  

     As 2025 draws to a close, the bright winter stars are assembling in the east earlier and earlier, along with Jupiter, which outshines all of them.

     Jupiter appears over the northeastern horizon a couple of hours after nightfall. Meanwhile, Saturn shines in the south. In late December 2020, Saturn and Jupiter passed so close to each other they looked like one object. Five years later, thanks to Jupiter’s greater orbital speed, the two planets are now approximately 90 degrees apart.

     Jupiter is below the Gemini twin stars Pollux—the brighter—and Castor. The hourglass form of Orion, the hunter, with the three closely spaced stars of his belt, rises to the right of Jupiter. Above Orion, look for bright Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the bull, and the Hyades star cluster, which marks the bull’s face. Above the Hyades is the Pleiades star cluster, marking the bull’s shoulder. 

     In the west, the Summer Triangle of bright stars is tilted clockwise from its summer position. Deneb, the highest of the three stars, marks the head of the Northern Cross, which stands nearly upright over the horizon in early evening. 

     In the predawn sky, brilliant Arcturus, in the constellation Bootes, the herdsman, shines over the eastern to southeastern horizon. To its lower right is Spica, in Virgo, the maiden; and to its lower left is Vega, the brightest star in the Summer Triangle.

     December’s full moon arrives on Thursday, the 4th, at 5:14 p.m. This will be another large supermoon, and the second closest full moon of the year. It will be lovely as it rises that afternoon, about as round as we’ll ever see it.

    Winter begins with the solstice, at 9:03 a.m. Sunday, the 21st. At that moment the sun reaches its turning point over the Tropic of Capricorn and begins its next journey north.