Each Monday, I pick out North America's celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere), but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.
The holiday season can be hectic, but December is the perfect month for stepping outside to look at the stars -- if the skies are clear. The nights start early in the Northern Hemisphere, and the stars, particularly to the southeast, are astounding. There's Orion, with its obvious Orion's Belt of three bright stars rising vertically, with blue Rigel and reddish Betelgeuse on either side. Taurus, with its orangey star Aldebaran and, above, The Pleiades, an open cluster of stars. Those are just a few bright stars and objects that await you outside.
If you need more excuses, here's everything you need to know about stargazing and sky-watching this week:
Early risers may want to see a waning crescent moon close to Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. Look southeast an hour before sunrise, and while you're observing, have a look for dim, reddish Mercury and bright star Antares in Scorpius rising underneath the pair.
Another early morning start will get you the rare sight of a slim, waning crescent moon, now just 12%-lit, close to Antares and Mercury. Look an hour before sunrise.
There's a final chance to see a waning crescent moon this morning, with a now just 6%-lit lunar disk close to Antares in the southeast. Look an hour before sunrise.
Got a telescope for Christmas? Point it straight at Orion Nebula, also known as M42, and part of "Orion's Sword" that hangs down from the hunter's three famous belt stars.
A diffuse cloud of gas and dust about 1,300 light-years distant where stars are being born in the Milky Way, this is the brightest nebula and is easily visible to the naked eye in the night sky -- but it looks spectacular in a small telescope. Whether looking unaided or using binoculars, look slightly to the side of it to appreciate its brightness with your more sensitive peripheral vision.