The Sky for the Month

The Sky over the Mornington Peninsula — December 2158

Computed for The Briars, Mt Martha. Times are local (Melbourne).

Highlights this month

  • 14ThuMars and Saturn in conjunction — 1° apart. (4:27am)
  • 14ThuGeminids meteor shower peaks (up to 150/hr). A 34% Moon washes out fainter meteors for part of the night.
  • 22FriSummer solstice.
  • 22FriUrsids meteor shower peaks (up to 10/hr). A thin 2% Moon leaves the sky dark.
  • 24SunMercury in superior conjunction with the Sun — lost in the glare. (12:11pm)

Sun & twilight

DateSunriseSunsetDay lengthAstro. dark beginsends
Fri 15:50am8:27pm14h 37m10:19pm3:58am
Sun 105:50am8:35pm14h 45m10:30pm3:54am
Wed 205:52am8:42pm14h 50m10:39pm3:55am
Sun 315:59am8:46pm14h 47m10:41pm4:03am

Days lengthen by about 11 minutes over the month.

The Moon

  • Full Moon SupermoonWed 6, 7:21am
  • Last QuarterWed 13, 2:48am
  • New MoonThu 21, 6:22am
  • First QuarterFri 29, 3:12am

Perigee 6 Dec (356,700 km) · Apogee 19 Dec (406,200 km)

The planets

Rise/set for mid-month at The Briars.

PlanetInMagRiseTransitSetBest
MercuryOph−1.05:28am12:53pm8:18pmHidden
VenusSgr−3.77:30am2:56pm10:21pmHidden
MarsVir1.62:56am9:27am3:59pmMorning
JupiterVir−1.72:17am8:30am2:43pmMorning
SaturnVir0.62:59am9:27am3:54pmMorning
UranusSgr5.87:10am2:32pm9:54pmHidden
NeptuneSgr8.08:09am3:21pm10:34pmHidden

Meteor showers

  • Geminids — peaks 14 December, radiant in Gemini (up to 150/hr). The richest shower of the year; the radiant reaches a useful altitude after local midnight, so it rewards southern observers well. A 34% Moon washes out fainter meteors for part of the night.
  • Ursids — peaks 22 December, radiant in Ursa Minor (up to 10/hr). A circumpolar northern shower whose radiant never rises from Victoria. A thin 2% Moon leaves the sky dark.

The solar system — December 2158

Evening sky Morning sky Up much of the night Lost in the Sun’s glare

Generated automatically from the MPAS sky engine on 30 September 2026.