Night Sky News 5 December 2025 - 4 January 2026

Sunday night, December 28, 2025, brings a classic late-December sky: a bright, growing Moon that lights up the landscape, Jupiter stealing the show for evening stargazers, and the Quadrantid meteor shower officially kicking off its annual run as we head toward the New Year. Moongiant+2Sky & Telescope+2 Below is a complete, publication-ready roundup of what matters most in the sky tonight (28.12.2025)—including the latest space-weather and asteroid-flyby updates that are making the rounds in astronomy reporting and official monitoring dashboards. services.swpc.noaa.gov+2NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)+2 Tonight’s biggest skywatching headlines If you only have 5 minutes outside, make it these: Moon phase tonight: bright waxing gibbous (and why

Dec. 23, 2025 — Tonight’s sky is doing that classic winter trick: it gets dark early, stays dark long, and then quietly hands you a few genuinely photogenic targets as a reward for being a warm-blooded mammal who chose to go outside anyway. The main storylines in Night Sky Today (December 23, 2025) are straightforward and very worth your time: a thin waxing crescent Moon with “earthshine” shortly after sunset, a NOAA-backed aurora chance that could push the northern lights into parts of the U.S., and the Ursid meteor shower still ticking through its final nights of the year. American

The “Night Sky Today” headline for 22.12.2025 is basically a gift-wrapped astronomy combo: the Ursid meteor shower is peaking on the darkest nights of the month, the Moon is only a slim waxing crescent (so it won’t wash out faint meteors), and bright Jupiter is dominating the late-evening sky. Add in a NOAA space-weather forecast calling for minor geomagnetic storming (the kind that can boost aurora chances), and you’ve got one of the most watchable late-December skies in years—assuming clouds don’t crash the party. NOAA SWPC+3TIME+3American Meteor Society+3 Below is a detailed, news-focused guide to what’s happening in the sky

Saturday, December 20, 2025 brings one of the most skywatcher-friendly setups of the year: a New Moon has wiped out moonlight, Jupiter is blazing in the evening sky and staying up late, the Ursid meteor shower is building toward its peak, and an interstellar comet—3I/ATLAS—is still within reach of backyard telescopes just after its closest pass by Earth. AP News+4EarthSky+4Scientific American+4 If you’ve been waiting for a “go night” to step outside, let your eyes adjust, and simply follow bright signposts across the sky, tonight is it. New Moon Night: The Dark-Sky Advantage Peaks Now The Moon reaches New Moon

Friday, December 19, 2025 brings a rare “headline night” for skywatchers: an interstellar comet is making its closest pass by Earth, the Moon is slipping into (or extremely near) a New Moon phase that darkens the sky, and the year’s final major meteor shower is ramping up ahead of its peak just before Christmas. If you only step outside once this week, tonight is a strong candidate—especially if you have access to binoculars or a telescope and a spot away from city lights. The big sky story today: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach The most talked-about celestial visitor