Monthly sky briefing
December 2024
In December 2024, Venus was the brightest thing in the evening sky, while Mars led the morning. The full moon fell on 15 Dec. The Geminids peaked around 14 Dec. 7 Starlink trains went up — a well-known source of "string of lights" reports in the days after.
Bright planets
- Venusevening sky · mag -4.3
- Jupiterevening sky · mag -2.8
- Marsmorning sky · mag -0.8
- Mercurymorning sky · mag +0.3
- Saturnevening sky · mag +0.9
Moon
- Full moon15 Dec
- New moon1 Dec
- New moon30 Dec
Meteor showers
- Geminidspeak 14 Dec
Rocket launches
7 launches · 7 Starlink
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-704 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-145 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-58 Dec
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 11-213 Dec
Reports this monthopen 2024 on the map ↗
477most reported: orb (120), light (64), triangle (28)
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.