SkyCaramba

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.

Mercury's at greatest elongation. This greatest elongation doesn't seem so great though.

The moon, Jupiter, and Pollux are close as the week starts.

And after the moon leaves the planet and star, look for Geminid meteors. They seem to originate from about that part of the sky.

The full moon occults the Pleiades. Since the moon's so much brighter than the stars, this may be hard to see. It's an even harder challenge to photograph. Here's how some astrophotographers will do it.

This is the best time to look at Saturn for a nearly edge-on view of the rings.

Mercury approaches greatest elongation.

Venus heads into the sunrise while Mars heads into the sunset.

Mercury enters the morning sky as Venus prepares to leave it. Ceres resumes direct motion but doesn't really slow down. Saturn and Neptune are moving toward each other, but not quickly Saturn's rings are almost edge-on.

The Leonid meteor shower peaks this week. A spectacular meteor storm in 1833 taught astronomers something about where meteors come from.

Mars is near Antares. Uranus is at opposition. Mercury's at inferior conjunction.

Mercury turns around and passes Mars. Jupiter also goes retrograde. Venus scoots along Virgo's legs. Uranus approaches opposition. The Andromeda Galaxy is a popular target for beginner deep sky astrophotographers.

Mercury and Mars are about to appear close, but they're not having a conjunction in either right ascension or celestial longitude.

The moon passes in front of the Pleiades this week. As the Pleiades return to all night views, let's revisit why so many legends around the world say this star cluster represents seven beings but we see only six.

And more: Jupiter is about to go retrograde, Venus passes by Spica, and Neptune and Saturn remain somewhat close.