December 2024 (scroll down the page for other months)
Sunday 1st sees Jupiter transited by Ganymede whilst Mars shines at -0.5 and sits 2 degrees off centre of the Beehive Cluster M44. On the 2nd, Mars is occulted by the ninth magnitude star TYC-1398-00878-1. On the 3rd, Jupiters moon Io and its shadow can be seen transiting the planet.
The 4th sees one of Jupiters other moons, Callisto, near Jupiters southern limb whilst on the 6th the shadow of the moon Titan can be seen crossing Saturns gaseous surface; at the same time Mars begins its retrograde motion westward. On the 7th Jupiter reaches opposition whilst the waxing Moon and Saturn are seen as being less then 7 degrees apart. On the 8th this reduces to 5 degrees and their are passes of Jupiter of both the Ganymede and Io moons.
The 10th sees Saturn’s moon Diane shadow transit and the lunar clair-obscure effect called the Jewelled Handle maybe seen on the Moon in the early evening as the dawn light hits the mountain range of Montes Jura. On the 11th Jupiter occults a mag. +10.8 star and the 13th sees our waxing gibbous Moon positioned in the southern part of the Pleiades open cluster (M45).
The 14th sees the peak of the annual Geminid Meteor shower but its viewing will be hampered by a virtual full Moon. The 16th sees another shadow transit of Ganymede across Jupiter and the moon Rhea shadow transits Saturn. A lunar occultation occurs on the 18th when Mars can be seen disappearing behind the waning gibbous Moon.
The Northern Winters solstice is on the 21st when the Sun is in its most southerly declination and the daylight time is reduced to 8 hours or less.
The 22nd sees the peak of the Ursid shower which is best viewed before 23:00 hours to avoid the Moons glare and on the 25th the planet Mercury is at its greatest western elongation at mag. -0.3 and to be seen in the dawn just above the south east horizon.
The 29th sees the moon Callisto at 4 arcseconds north of Jupiters north pole.
January 2025
| 2nd | The moon Ganymede is occulted by Jupiter after which Io transits the planet after which Ganymede’s shadow appears a couple of hours later, then followed by an eclipse by Jupiter on Ganymede. |
| 3rd | As the evening twilight fades away, mag. -4.3 Venus can be seen at just under 2 degrees north-north west of a waxing crescent Moon. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks tonight. |
| 4th | The Earth is at perihelion today (when it is closest to the Sun) and Saturn is occulted by a waxing crescent Moon. |
| 6th | Two clair-obscure effects to be seen on the Moons surface, these are the Lunar X and V. |
| 7th | Titan’s shadow transits Saturn just after sunset and another clair-obscure effect is seen, the Eyes of Clavius at around midnight. |
| 9th | The Moon approaches the Pleiades open cluster and will pass over some of the brighter stars early on the 10th |
| 10th | Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation, 47.2 degree separation from the Sun |
| 12th | Venus appears as 50% (Dichotomy) after which it will be seen as a crescent |
| 13th | Once again Ganymede will shadow transit Jupiter, to be seen 15:00 |
| 14th | Mars at mag. -1.4 can be seen 10 arcminutes north of the Moons northern limb |
| 16th | Mars stil at mag. -1.4 will be at opposition |
| 18th | Venus will be shining bright at 2.2 degrees north of the dimmer Saturn |
| 20th | Ganymede is first seen transiting Jupiter in the early evening with a shadow transit over midnight |
| 23rd | The Galilean moon Callisto is to be seen at 3 arcseconds below Jupiters southern pole in the morning |
| 25th | Owing to lunar libration the large lunar sea ‘Mare Orientale’ can be seen in better detail on the Moons surface |
| 27th | Ganymede and it shadow make 2 separate transits of Jupiter |
| 28th | As the Moon is not ‘out’ this evening and if the sky is clear, it is a good opportunity to view the Sword of Orion and the ‘Orion Nebula’ (M42) as it sits high in the sky |
| 31st | Around midday with the right viewing conditions it may be possible to see the occultation of the moon Titan on Saturn’s northern limb. Titan will disappear behind Saturn and later reappear |
February 2025
March 2025
Note: All of the above applies to the Northern Hemisphere of the sky as seen from the UK, no times are given to encourage observers to discover for themselves. Main data source is the ‘Sky at Night’ magazine (other sources are available!). Compiled by Brian Shepherd.