This month the sun sets around 4:00 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 6:00 pm. As with November, there is a great signpost in the form of the Square of Pegasus to help you find your way around the sky. It is a huge square made up of four stars of nearly equal brightness: Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib and you should be able to see it high up in the south, above Jupiter in the early evening sky.
 
The top left star of the Square is Alpheratz. It is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda, which is marked by a line of three more stars running up and to the left of it. You can use this line to find the Andromeda Galaxy, one of the most famous features of the night sky and the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. The best way to find it is to start Alpheratz and go a further two stars along the line, turn right and count another two faint stars along, and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) will be close to the second faint star. If you are in a town, you’ll probably need a pair of binoculars to spot it, but if you’re in a dark place out in the country, you should be able to pick it out without using binoculars. 

There will be more about Taurus and Orion next month, but for the moment, draw a line using the three stars in Orion's belt and follow it through Aldebaran and you’ll find the Pleiades star cluster (M45) a bit beyond it. This cluster is the brightest open constellation we can see in the night sky and is a grouping of more than 1,400 stars, seven of which are visible to the naked eye. The name comes from the early Greeks who referred to the constellation as the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters who were daughters of Atlas and Pleione. These stars are mentioned three times in the Bible and are linked to origin stories for many American Indian tribes.

If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, but their orientation varies from month to month. In December the familiar Plough asterism, which many people recognise, is moving from the north to the north-east. If you follow its two right-hand stars upward and veer a little bit to the right, you’ll find Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look high up over to the north-east, you can see Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in the Constellation of Gemini (the Twins), which represent the heads of The Twins. Meanwhile, low down in the North-West, you will find Vega, the brightest star in the Constellation of Lyra (the Lyre). It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus.

There was a full Moon on 27 November, so we start the month with an 82% waning gibbous Moon that becomes a last quarter Moon on 5 December. 

The new Moon (no moon) is on 12 December and a few days before that, on 8 December, you can see a crescent Moon sitting above and to the right of Venus over in the southeast from 3:00 am and until the sun rises at around 8:45 am. You should also be able to see a crescent Moon at daybreak on 9 December, when it will be at its closest to Venus and again on 10 December when it will be below and to the left of the Morning Star. Alternatively, a few days later, on 15 and 16 December, you should be able to pick out the thinnest of crescent Moons sitting low in the southern sky as the Sun sets, while on 17 December the Moon will be very close to Saturn.

The Moon becomes 100% full at precisely 0:33 am on 27 December. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 25-26 December, 26-27 December and 27-28 December. It will rise in the northeast at around 2:00 pm on 25 December, at about 2:30 pm on 26 December and at about 3:30 pm on 27 December.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Cold Moon because December is the first month of winter. Its Old English/Anglo-Saxon name is the Moon Before Yule, while another name for it is the Wolf Moon, however, this is more commonly used for January’s Full Moon.

Soon after sunset at the beginning of the month, use binoculars or a telescope to look out for Mercury low down on the southwestern horizon. The innermost planet will be at its greatest separation from the Sun on 4 December, meaning that it will be shining at its brightest. After that, it will fade each night before disappearing in the twilight glow during the second week of the month.
 
As darkness falls, you will also see Saturn sitting above the southern horizon.  It will be visible until it sets at around 10:00 pm and if your binoculars or telescope magnify by about 40 or 50 times, you be able to see its famous rings and its biggest moons when you look at it. The largest, Titan, is enormous. In fact, it’s 40% more massive than the planet Mercury and 80% more massive than our own Moon.
 
To the left of Saturn, you will find Neptune. In contrast to Saturn, it will be quite faint, so you will need a telescope to pick this outermost planet in the boundary between Aquarius and Pisces in the southeastern sky. This is because its distance from Earth means that its brightness is half of that of the faintest star you can see with the naked eye. It sets at just after midnight.
 
Next is Jupiter, which you will find it over in the east as darkness falls and it will remain visible until it sets at around 4:30 am. If you look at it through binoculars, you will see some tiny starry objects on either side of it. These are its brightest and largest moons. They are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto and are known as the Galilean moons and will change position each night as they circle this mighty gas giant planet. If you use a telescope, you will be able to see its roiling clouds and the huge storm known as the Great Red Spot.
 
Uranus lies to the left of Jupiter and does not set until around 6:00 am. You may be able to spot it with the naked eye, but you’ll stand a much better chance of seeing it if you use binoculars or a telescope. In fact, a telescope should reveal its disc and its largest moons.
 
Next up is Venus, rising in the southeastern sky at around 5:00 am and continuing to spend this time of the year as the glorious “Morning Star”. It will be easy to spot because it will be shining much brighter than anything else in the sky except for the Moon.
 
Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

December is the month for viewing the shooting stars of the Geminids Meteor Shower. Unusually, they are not debris from a comet, but rather debris from an asteroid called Phaethon. The Geminids have become more plentiful in recent years and are considered by many to be the best meteor shower of the year. They are active from 4-17 December and during their peak, which this year is on 14 December, it can be possible to see around 120 meteors per hour.
 
Their radiant point is in the north-east sky, in the Constellation of Gemini (The Twins) and close to Castor, one of its two bright stars. Although this is where they originate from, you’ll be able to see them at any point across the sky as they burn up in the upper atmosphere, some 60 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface.
 
The best time to look for them is normally when the radiant point is at its highest in the sky, which will be at around 2:00 am. This year, there will be a waxing crescent Moon on 14 December, which sets at 4:30 pm, meaning that it will not illuminate the sky and spoil the show.

This year, the Winter Solstice will occur on 22 December at 3:27 am and is the exact moment when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the Sun. However, many people refer to the Winter Solstice as the Shortest Day of the year, when the number of hours of daylight are at their minimum and the number of hours of night are at their maximum. On 22 December this year, our sunrise will be 8:55:40 am and our sunset will be 3:47:34 pm, giving us only 6 hours, 51 minutes and 54 seconds of daytime.

Following the clock change at end of last month, the sun now sets not long after 4:00 pm, meaning that the stars and constellations start to become visible from about 5:30 pm onwards. During the previous three months we have been watching the Milky Way get lower and lower in the southern night sky and you may have noticed the constellations in the south getting dimmer. This is because the position of the Earth is now such that we are looking out of the plane of our galaxy and into the rest of the universe.
 
The Milky Way has not gone altogether, and you can see it over in the west along with the Summer Triangle of the three bright stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb, which we have been using to navigate our way around the night sky in previous months. However, it is now better to use the Great Square of Pegasus, a large square asterism made up of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness which you can find high up in the southern night sky. The four stars are Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib and you will need to look carefully to find them as they are all of second magnitude, so they aren’t the brightest. 

If you follow the diagonal down from the top left of the Square to beyond its bottom right star, you’ll come to a faint group of stars known as the Water Jar of Aquarius. It is an asterism formed by four relatively bright stars in the constellation of Aquarius (the Water-Carrier). It is easily recognised by its arrow shape, which looks a bit like a fighter plane with swept wings.  Though it’s not the brightest part of Aquarius, it’s a good pattern that helps you to find its other stars.
 
A line of stars in the constellation of Andromeda stretches from the top left edge of the Square a constellation that is named after the daughter of Cassiopeia who, in the Greek myth, was chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster Cetus but was saved from death by Perseus. The constellation is the home of the Andromeda Galaxy which, at approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It is also the most distant object that you are likely to see without an optical aid. However, if you can’t find it with the naked eye, use binoculars to look for a little oval blur.
 
Below Andromeda and to the left of Pegasus is where you will find the constellation of Pisces (the Fishes). It is very faint and difficult to see, so the best way to find it is to look directly below the Square of Pegasus for the Circlet of Pisces, which is a pentagonal asterism of 5 stars that marks the head of the Western Fish. Once you’ve found it, go on from there to catch the Eastern Fish which is jumping upward to the east of the Square of Pegasus. The entire constellation looks like the letter V.

Below Pisces is the constellation of Cetus, the Sea Monster which in Greek mythology both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. You’ll find its tail marked by a fairly bright star called Diphda located low down in the sky, which is almost directly below the left-hand edge of the Square of Pegasus, while further over to the left and up a little, you’ll find Menkar, a reasonably bright star that marks its head.
 
You may have noticed that all the constellations in this part of the sky have watery connections. It is said that this is because the Sun travelled through these constellations during the wet season in ancient Mesopotamia, which was from November to March, and flooding was a major problem. The naming of many of our constellations dates from that location and time.
 
Finally, to the east of the Square is Aries, the Ram, whose three main stars form an easily recognised triangle. You’ll find another more regular triangle close to this one which is actually called Tringulum, the Triangle. It contains the nearby galaxy M33, which will be visible with binoculars if you have a reasonably dark sky.
 
If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, except that their orientation varies. This month the familiar Plough asterism, which many people will recognise, is low down in the north just now, with its rectangular end almost directly below Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look over to the north-east you can see Capella. It is a yellow giant star, the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer), the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.

There was a full Moon on 28 October, so we start the month with an almost full Moon that becomes a last quarter Moon on 5 November. 

The new Moon (no moon) is on 13 November and a few days before that, on 9 November, you can see a crescent Moon sitting very close to a bright shining Venus over in the southeast from 3:00 am until the sun rises at just before 8:00 am. You should also be able to see a crescent Moon at daybreak on 10 and 11 November, but it will be too close to the Sun on 12 October to be visible. Alternatively, a few days later, on 16 and 17 November, you should be able to pick out the thinnest of crescent Moons sitting low in the southern sky as the Sun sets.

The Moon becomes 100% full at precisely 9:16 am on 27 November. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 26-27 November, 27-28 November, and 28-29 November. It will rise in the northeast at around 3:00 pm on 26 November, at about 3:20 pm on 27 November and at about 3:50 pm on 28 November.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Beaver Moon. There is disagreement over the origin this name with some saying that it comes from Native Americans setting beaver traps during this month, while others say it comes from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams. It is also known as the Frosty Moon, and along with December’s Full Moon, some called it the Oak Moon. Traditionally, if the Beaver Moon is the last Full Moon before the winter solstice, it is also called the Mourning Moon.

As darkness falls, you will see Saturn sitting above the south-eastern horizon.  It will be visible until it sets at around 11:30 pm and if your binoculars or telescope magnify by about 40 or 50 times, you be able to see its famous rings and its biggest moons when you look at it. The largest, Titan, is enormous. In fact, it’s 40% more massive than the planet Mercury and 80% more massive than our own Moon.
 
To the left of Saturn, you will find Neptune. In contrast to Saturn, it will be quite faint, and you will need a telescope to pick it out on the border between Aquarius and Pisces on the southeastern horizon. This is because its distance from Earth means that its brightness is half of that of the faintest star you can see with the naked eye. It sets at about 2:00 am.
 
Next to see is Jupiter, rising well over in the east at around 4:00 pm. It is at its closest to Earth on 1 November at 370 million miles away. Two days later it’s at opposition, when it is in line with the Sun and Earth and it will be shining at its brightness as a result. If you look at it through binoculars, you will see some tiny starry objects on either side of it. These are its brightest and largest moons. They are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto and are known as the Galilean moons and will change position each night as they circle this mighty gas giant planet. If you use a telescope, you will be able to see its roiling clouds and the huge storm know as the Great Red Spot.
 
Uranus will follow close behind Jupiter, rising about 10-15 minutes later. You may be able to spot it with the naked eye but will stand a much better chance of seeing it if you use binoculars or a telescope. In fact, a telescope should reveal its disc and its largest moons.
 
Next up is Venus, rising in the eastern sky at around 3:00 am and continuing to spend this time of the year as the glorious “Morning Star”. It will be easy to spot because it will be shining much brighter than anything else in the sky except for the Moon.
 
Mercury and Mars are too close to the Sun to be seen this month.

During the first part of the month, the South and North Taurid meteor showers are very noticeable. Unlike other meteor showers, they don’t have strong peaks but instead have “staying power” and produce a steady stream of meteors over a number of weeks. The South Taurids are active from about 10 September to 20 November, while the North Taurids are active from about 20 October to 10 December.
 
These showers produce about 5 meteors/hour each and because they overlap up until 20 November, you can expect to see up to 10 meteors/hour during the first 2-3 weeks of the month. However, the best nights to look for them will be during the few nights either side of the new Moon on 13 November because there will be little or no moonlight to drown them out. The showers’ radiant points, the part of the sky from which the meteors originate, rise in early evening and are at their highest in the sky around midnight, so this will be the best time on these nights to look for them.
 
We also have the Leonid meteor shower this month and it is known for periodic storms of historic proportions, when shooting stars fall like rain. While no storm is predicted for the 2023 Leonids, you can still catch plenty of meteors between 3 November and 2 December.
 
This meteor shower peaks the morning of 17 November. This is only a few days after a new Moon, giving us a near moonless night, meaning that it is a good year to look for them. The shower’s radiant rises around midnight, so the best time to look for them will be from then until dawn on 18 November.