Antarctica and the Southern Ocean get an annular eclipse. Mercury's at perihelion and greatest elongation. In a manner of speaking, it's closest to and farthest from the sun at the same time.

Planets have their orbits. But the way we see them going around, they also have synodic periods.

Three naked eye planets can be seen setting in the evening this week, at least in some places. Mire continues to brighten. There's an annular solar eclipse next week. And several animals are following Orion around the sky. Among them is a unicorn.

Jupiter remains in Gemini. Mercury and Venus slowly make their way into the evening. The moon hides Regulus.

And there once was a planet named George. Despite it being a planet, it was called George's Star.

Another of the monthly meetings of the moon and the Pleiades is about to happen. These have been happening every 27 nights or so. Saturn and Jupiter remain out at night. But the other naked eye planets are still clustered with the sun.

What's that by Jupiter? Wasat! It's named for being in the middle of the sky. Sometimes, planets pass right in front of it. Mercury goes through superior conjunction. Mars and Venus remain out of sight, too.

Three naked eye planets are out of sight. You can see them clustered in a planetarium program view. Saturn and Jupiter are still out at night. Try to find Uranus, Neptune, Hebe, and Ceres too. And now's a good time to start looking for the variable star Mira, which has been invisible to the naked eye but should reach peak brightness in less than two months.

Mercury, Venus, and Mars are about to pass around the other side of the sun. Earth is getting farther from the sun. Jupiter and Saturn remain out at night. And find out about the Local Group of galaxies, some of which you can see fairly easily.

Eclipses, oppositions, a famous variable star brightens up, Venus rules the evening, and the closest full moon of the year are among the dozen events of 2026 previewed in this edition.

They don't name extremely advanced optics after just anyone. Some of the best deep sky pictures ever taken came from an observatory named for Vera C. Rubin. If that's all you know about her, you know she must have been important. I'll tell you why.

Earth is about to have its December solstice. That means long, although cold, nights for northern sky watchers.

Saturn's rings are coming more into view.

Geminid meteors are still visible.

And more.