Venus dominates the SW evening twilight sky - visible low above the horizon for an hour or so. As the month progresses Venus gains a little in altitude and grows even brighter attaining -4.5 by Christmas. The moon lies above right on the 5th.

Conspicuous Jupiter is well placed in the east by 9pm at the start of Decemebr and by 7pm at the end. It resides below the ‘twin’ stars of Gemini. The king of the planets always a worthy target for a telescope or even a decent pair of binoculars. The moon lies nearby on the 18th.

Its swift prograde motion; heading eastwards, means that the red planet Mars remains an early morning object and is probably best observed in the dawn sky (around 6:30am) when it lies almost due south resting in the ‘bowl’ of Virgo. Through a scope Mars is still disappointingly small, though matters will improve into the New Year. The moon lies nearby on the 25th & 26th.

As December starts Mercury and Saturn can be found just above the SE horizon around 6:30am. By the 5th Mercury will be very hard to spot as it sinks ever lower leaving Saturn to gradually pull away from the horizon during the month.