What's Happening in Space: December 2025
- 8th Dec 2025
- Author: Dhara Patel
A summary of space events through the month
This December, resident Space Expert, Dhara Patel, joins us once again to share star gazing opportunities and the latest space happenings!
Throughout December – Spot the International Space Station
From Leicester, there may be sightings throughout December to spot the International Space Station (ISS) moving across the sky. Download NASA’s Spot the Station app using the App Store or Google Play to find out when and where to spot the largest artificial satellite overhead from your location. It’ll look like a bright star moving relatively quickly across the sky (generally from west to east) and will be visible to the naked eye.
Throughout December – Stargazing challenges / National Space Centre - Space NOW! podcast
Each month, we'll be sharing a trio of stargazing challenges for everyone to have a go at. From spotting the Moon and familiar star patterns, to catching meteor showers and some deep sky objects. Check out our Stargazing Challenges - December 2025 blog for more details.
And we’ll be going beyond the headlines unpacking some of the current space news stories and science in the National Space Centre's podcast, so tune into Space NOW! to explore to new and previous episodes. watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify – and please rate the show!
4th December – Full moon / Supermoon (23:14)
Known as the Cold moon (according to the old Farmers’ Almanac), this full moon is named to mark when winter in the Northern hemisphere started to set, and the weather became colder. Check out the Full Moon: Full Facts blog written by Mike Darch in the NSC Education team to find out more. This full moon will also be a supermoon and the final one of 2025! Check out the Stargazing Challenges blog linked above to find out more about supermoons and how to catch this one!
7th December – Moon and Jupiter close in the sky
The waning gibbous moon will be observable near Jupiter during the evening of 7 December – peering above the northeastern horizon around 19:00. Earlier in the afternoon, the Moon will have been in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Jupiter and a short time after will have reached its close approach, but both will be under the horizon and unobservable at this time. Look out for the duo from around 19:00, they’ll rise higher throughout the evening and become more separated. So, if you want to spot them closer together, earlier in the evening is better but you’ll need clear view of the northeast without tall buildings or trees that may block your view. Both will be visible to the naked eye, with Jupiter sitting to the right of the Moon. As the night unfolds, the pair will slowly drift westwards remaining visible until daybreak on 8 December. Find out more about close approaches and conjunctions in our astronomical phenomena blog written by David Southworth in the NSC Education team.
8th December – Mercury at greatest western elongation
Because Mercury orbits closer to the Sun than Earth, it always appears quite close to the Sun in the sky being lost in its glare most of the time. However, Mercury will be at its furthest separation from the Sun on 8 December when it reaches greatest western elongation, making it a great time to try and spot the Sun’s closest planet. Look to the southeast just before sunrise (around 07:00) – it will look like a bright star but will be very close to the horizon, so you’ll need a good clear view without tall buildings and trees. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog above to find out more about greatest elongations and other astronomical phenomena.
10th December – Lunar occultation of Regulus
On the morning of 10 December, the waning gibbous moon will move in front of the bright star Regulus in the constellation of Leo, temporarily blocking it from view. Look to the southwest from 07:00 – the occultation will begin at 07:24 and although in twilight, you may still be able to spot Regulus disappearing from view as the Moon passes in front of it. The star will reappear on the other side of the Moon at 08:25 but unfortunately will not be visible in the daylight. Occultations happens due to objects lining up from our point of view – the Moon is a mere 384,000 kilometres away from us, but Regulus is over 70 trillion kilometres away! Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about occultations and other astronomical phenomena.
13th-14th December – Peak of the Geminid meteor shower
One of the best of the annual meteor showers with up to 150 meteors per hour at its peak, this shower is produced by dust/fragments from asteroid 3200 Phaethon as opposed to a comet like most other meteor showers. The meteors will radiate from the constellation of Gemini (rising above the north-eastern horizon after sunset) but can appear anywhere in the sky. Peaking on the night of the 13th and into the morning of the 14th, the waning crescent moon will only rise later into the night so viewing conditions will be more favourable around midnight. The radiant will continue to rise higher into the sky during the early morning of the 14th, so it might be best to head out around midnight when the radiant will be high in the south and observe in the early hours. Find a dark location away from urban lights and give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. Find a clear view of the sky with few trees and buildings that may block your view and don’t forget to wrap up warm – meteor hunting is enthralling, and you might be out for a few hours. Find out more in the NSC Geminid meteor shower 2025 blog.
20th December - New moon (01:43)
The new moon will occur in the constellation of Sagittarius. The lack of moonlight interference provides a great time to try and view deep sky objects (especially with the aid of binoculars and telescopes). We have a blog on Moon phases written by Mike Darch in the NSC Education team.
21st December – Winter solstice (15:03)
In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice (also called the winter solstice) is when during its yearly orbit, the North Pole of the Earth becomes tilted furthest away from the Sun and our star reaches its southernmost position in the sky being directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. This marks the beginning of northern hemisphere winter in the astronomical calendar. We experience the year's shortest day in terms of daylight, but from this point on, daylight hours will gradually increase as we head back towards summer! Find out more in our Equinoxes and Solstices blog written by Catherine Muller previously in the NSC Public Programs team.
22nd-23rd December – Peak of the Ursid meteor shower
The Ursids are a minor shower, ~ 10 meteors per hour at its peak, produced by dust left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle. The meteors will radiate from the constellation of Ursa Minor (a circumpolar constellation visible all night) but can appear anywhere in the sky. Peaking on the night of the 22-23 December with the Moon in its waxing crescent phase, there will be no moonlight to interfere with your viewing with our lunar neighbour setting by 18:00. Head out to a dark location, to give you the best chance of catching a few meteors. The radiant in the north will continue to rise higher into the sky during the early morning of 23 December therefore it might be best to head out in the hours after midnight. Find out more in in the NSC Ursid meteor shower 2025 blog.
24th/25th December - NORAD Tracks Santa
Eyes on the skies for a very unusual flying object passing overhead on the night of the 24th... ok so maybe you won't spot the real Santa in the night sky but youngsters can enjoy tracking his progress via the NORAD Santa Tracker which goes live on Christmas Eve. Ho ho ho!
26th December – Moon and Saturn close in the sky
The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Saturn and will be at its close approach just after midnight on 27 December. However, they will both have just set under the western horizon so won’t be visible at this time. Instead look towards the south as the Sun sets on Boxing Day to spot Saturn sitting to the left of the waxing crescent moon. They’ll drift westwards and will move closer to the horizon as the evening sets in but will move closer together. So, if you want to spot the pair as close together as possible look towards the west around 22:00 – they’ll be quite low so you’ll need a clear view without tall buildings and trees that may block your view. By midnight they’ll be out of view. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.
By the end of December?
- While an exact date hasn’t yet been confirmed, we may see one final New Shepard space tourist flight before the end of 2026. The NS-37 mission would be the sixteenth crewed flight of the program and will include Hans Koenigsmann and Michaela “Michi” Benthaus as passengers. The reusable New Shephard rocket will take off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas and pass beyond the Karman line, officially entering space and giving the crew a few minutes of a weightless experience before returning to Earth approximately 10 minutes after lift off.
- Earlier this year, a first attempt was made by Isar Aerospace, from Andøya Spaceport in Norway to launch an orbital-class rocket from European soil. In this test flight the rocket crashed roughly 20–30 seconds after launch and did not reach orbit. It’s unlikely that we’ll see any action before 2026 but both Spectrum Flight 2 (again by Isar Aerospace, launching from Andøya Spaceport in Norway) and Rocket Factory Augsburg's (RFA) rocket launching from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland on the RFA ONE demo flight, are on the verge (and in competition) of becoming the first successful orbital flight from European soil.
Please note: As this summary is created at the end of the month before, dates (especially launch dates) can often change or be updated, so this content may become outdated - we always recommend checking on the relevant organisation's pages.