Monthly sky briefing
December 2023
In December 2023, Jupiter was the brightest thing in the evening sky, while Venus led the morning. The full moon fell on 27 Dec. The Geminids peaked around 14 Dec. 6 Starlink trains went up — a well-known source of "string of lights" reports in the days after.
Bright planets
- Venusmorning sky · mag -4.1
- Jupiterevening sky · mag -2.7
- Saturnevening sky · mag +0.8
Moon
- Full moon27 Dec
- New moon12 Dec
Meteor showers
- Geminidspeak 14 Dec
Rocket launches
6 launches · 6 Starlink
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-313 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-337 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-88 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-3419 Dec
Reports this monthopen 2023 on the map ↗
377most reported: orb (89), light (47), triangle (29)
Everything above is computed from public data — planet and moon positions, the launch log and the report catalogue. It doesn’t explain any single report; it just shows how much ordinary sky was overhead. What can’t be pinned to a planet, a launch or the moon is the part worth a closer look.