SkyEye

The Calendar

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for 'wanderer'. Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies, including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun Ophiuchus → Sagittarius

Although Ophiuchus is not a member of the zodiac, the ecliptic passes through it.

Mercury Ophiuchus

The closest planet to the Sun disappears from western skies early in the month as it heads towards conjunction on 13 December. It reappears in the east before sunrise late in the month, rising rapidly for southern hemisphere viewers and becoming quite high above the horizon.

Venus Libra → Scorpius → Ophiuchus → Sagittarius

The morning star is very low in the east, rising not long before the Sun.

Mars Virgo → Libra

The red planet rises ever earlier in the morning, approaching the brighter planet Jupiter in the sky.

Jupiter Libra

Like its neighbour Mars, Jupiter spends the month drawing away from the Sun in the morning sky and brightening slightly as it does.

Saturn Sagittarius

The ringed planet is soon lost to view this month as it undergoes solar conjunction on 21 December. It reappears next year in the morning sky.

Uranus Pisces

This faint planet, the most distant object in the solar system visible to the naked eye, sets around midnight.

Neptune Aquarius

A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system but you will need to look for it in the early evening as it sets well before midnight. It is at east quadrature on 3 December.