Best targets to observe between Christmas and New Year 2025
SOURCE:Space.com|BY: Jamie Carter
From a crescent moon and a 'Christmas Star' to deep sky delights, the wonders of the holiday night sky are yours to explore.
The winter night sky from the Northern Hemisphere is full of bright, iconic stars. (Image credit: Getty Images)
There are few better ways to spend the long winter nights than under a crisp, clear December sky — and between Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2025, the Northern Hemisphere night sky will be at its very best. A waxing moon will glide past Saturn, the Pleiades and Jupiter — now shining brightly in the east, right on cue, as a “Christmas Star — while deep-sky wonders like the Rosette Nebula rise high around midnight. Whether you’re trying out one of the best beginner telescopes gifted to you, you’re trying out stargazing with binoculars or you’re using only your eyes, here’s what to see in the night sky this holiday season.
If you want better views of the night sky, we have expert-led guides to the best telescopes, binoculars and cameras to view and image the heavens.
Wednesday, Dec. 24: A crescent moon
A 20%-illuminated waxing crescent moon will shine with Fomalhaut and Saturn on Christmas Eve. (Image credit: Starry Night)
If you’re looking for the quiet wonder of Christmas Eve, turn your gaze to the southwest sky as it gets dark. There, nicely illuminated, though not yet bright, will be a waxing crescent moon. A fifth of what you’ll see will be its day-side; the other four-fifths — its night-side — will be gently lit by sunlight reflected from our planet — Earthshine. If you have binoculars or a small telescope, point them at the terminator, that line between day and night, to see long shadows and craters in relief. Naked eye observers should look to the left of the moon for Fomalhaut (below) and Saturn (above).
Thursday, Dec. 25: Jupiter as the ‘Star of Bethlehem’
Jupiter is now just two weeks from its annual opposition, so it is as bright as it ever gets. (Image credit: Starry Night)
Christmas Day needs a “Christmas Star,” and what better candidate than Jupiter, which tonight shines at magnitude -2.5 in the constellation Gemini. Look to the east anytime after dark, and you’ll see the giant planet close to “the twins” of Gemini — the stars Castor and Pollux — as it shines brighter than anything else in the night sky, save for the moon. Now is the ideal time to observe Jupiter, which reaches its annual opposition — when Earth is between it and the sun — on Jan. 10, 2026. Typically, an outer planet is at its best for a couple of weeks either side of its opposition; any small telescope should allow a glimpse of its cloud bands, with a 6-inch telescope able to see its Great Red Spot (when it’s facing Earth).
Friday, Dec. 26: Saturn and the moon in conjunction
Boxing Day sees the moon meet Saturn in a close conjunction. (Image credit: Starry Night)
Get out of the house as soon as it gets dark on Boxing Day for one of the most beautiful sights of the week, a crescent moon and the planet Saturn. Now a 41%-illuminated waxing crescent, the moon will appear to curl around the sixth planet, and the two will be separated by a mere four degrees. That’s a bit less than the width of your three middle fingers held at arm’s length against the sky. Saturn will appear as a steady, golden point of light, though you’ll need a small telescope to glimpse its ring pattern.
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Saturday, Dec. 27: Lava plains on the first quarter moon
A first-quarter moon will rise on Dec. 27, 2025. (Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s half-day, half-night on the moon tonight as it reaches its first quarter phase in the southern sky. For amateur astronomers, it’s a bittersweet moment — the next week will see the moon grow in brightness as it waxes towards full, making faint star clusters, galaxies and nebulae harder to see. However, a “half-moon” is one of the best times to explore the lunar surface if you have a pair of binoculars. The line between light and dark — the terminator — cuts right down the middle tonight, causing long shadows to stretch across the lunar plains, making every bump and ridge stand out like a black-and-white relief map. The dark regions you see on the right-hand side of the moon are called maria, Latin for seas, but these are no oceans. These are vast plains of lava that solidified billions of years ago in the aftermath of asteroids slamming into the young moon.
A small telescope will allow you to view the Rosette Nebula at its best on Dec. 28, 2025. (Image credit: Getty Images)
If you have a small telescope, find the ruddy star Betelgeuse in Orion and range left to the quiet constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, home to an open cluster of stars about 5,000 light-years from the solar system. The Rosette Nebula (also called NGC 2244 and Caldwell 49) is an emission nebula — a cloud of gas that emits its own light because it's being energized by radiation from nearby stars — and a star-forming region. A flower-like shape, it’s visible through a pair of 10x50 or 15x70 binoculars in very dark skies, or easily in a small telescope. According to In-The-Sky.org, the Rosette Nebula is now well placed, reaching its highest in the sky around midnight local time. If you have trouble finding it, draw an imaginary line from Betelgeuse in Orion toward Procyon in Canis Minor. About one-third of the way along that line, just south of it, is the region of the Rosette Nebula. It’s about three times the diameter of the full moon.
Trace an ’S’ shape of stars in Orion’s Belt on Dec. 29, 2025. (Image credit: Starry Night)
Orion’s Belt — the famous trio of stars in Orion, sometimes nicknamed the “Belt of Orion” or the “Three Kings” — is an icon of the late-December night sky. Look east tonight for Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, strung out in a neat row, rising into the eastern sky as soon as it gets dark. Put a pair of binoculars on them, and you’ll discover great riches. Just to the right is, of course, the Great Nebula in Orion (also called M42). Lesser known is a delicate chain of faint stars curving across the field of view in a subtle “S” shape, running from just above Mintaka to just below Alnilam. It’s very clear through binoculars.
See Jupiter’s moons on Dec. 30, 2025. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jupiter getting close to its opposition means more than it merely becoming brighter. Since it’s closest to Earth (about four Earth-sun distances), its disk is bigger in the sky, and it’s visible all night. Jupiter’s opposition is also the best time to see its largest four moons — Io, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. These moons, called Galilean moons because they were first spotted by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, can be seen in any small telescope as pinpricks of light, but also in binoculars.
Wednesday, Dec. 31: Pleiades and the moon in conjunction
See the Pleiades and the moon close together on Dec. 31, 2025. (Image credit: Starry Night)
As your final stargazing act of the year, step outside as it gets dark and find Orion’s Belt, that iconic trio of bright stars, rising from the eastern horizon like an arrow. Trace Orion’s Belt upward, and high above it, you’ll find the moon, now 92% illuminated. Just above the moon will be the Pleiades — also known as the Seven Sisters and M45 — one of the closest open clusters of stars to the solar system. The bright moonlight may make it hard to see the Pleiades with the naked eye, but any pair of binoculars should bring them into view.
Jamie is an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer who writes about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. He is the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners, and is a senior contributor at Forbes. His special skill is turning tech-babble into plain English.
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