This was explained by Engineer Majid Abu Zahra, President of the Astronomical Society in Al-Ahsa Governorate
The month of December holds a lot for those who love observing the sky with its cool breezes in the Arab world. The moon will be full on the twenty-seventh day, so the best time to observe the sky will be in early and mid-December, when the influence of moonlight is little or non-existent to illuminate the sky and obscure dim objects.
The timing of the dark skies this month will coincide with the December meteor showers. The first is the Geminid, which is considered one of the best annual meteor showers, and will peak on the night of December 14-15. As is the case with most meteor showers, the best time to see the Geminid will be around midnight. Until the beginning of the morning twilight, and with the absence of the moon, this makes observing meteors, even faint ones, much easier. It is possible to see more than 100 meteors per hour, and the opportunity is ripe for seeing one meteor every minute.
Monitoring can be attempted two or three nights before or after the peak, because the sky may be cloudy on the night of the 14th-15th, but a large number of meteors may not be observed, but this is better than not seeing them completely.
Geminid meteors are not only abundant, but they are also highly unusual. As it is known, most meteor showers result from the Earth colliding with debris trails from comets, but in the case of Geminid meteors, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon is the source of this meteor shower.
In addition, there will be a small meteor shower later in December called “Debiyat,” which will reach its peak on the night of December 22-23. At best, it will produce only 10 meteors per hour, which is worthy of attention.
Coinciding with the peak of the “Dibia” meteors, the winter solstice occurs, which is the astronomical beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere. This year, it will be on December 22, when the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere and the shortest night in Southern Hemisphere.
During the period between now and late June 2024, the apparent path of the Sun across the sky will move slowly towards the north. The Sun will appear higher and higher in the sky in the northern hemisphere, and the days will become longer and longer. In the southern hemisphere, daylight hours will become shorter and nights long for observing the sky.
Note that a few summer constellations can still be seen on the western horizon in the early evening even though we are in the month of December, where the stars of the Summer Triangle are located: Vega (the Vulture), Al-Tair (the Flying Eagle), and Cygnus.
December is considered the best month to see the Large Magellanic Cloud of our Milky Way galaxy. It is beautiful and high in the sky and can be seen with the naked eye. It is preferable to use binoculars or a small telescope for those living in the southern hemisphere, but it is not visible to us in the northern hemisphere due to the spherical Earth.
In addition, the stars of the great Persians (Pegasus) are observed in the evening sky, which is beautiful and high for us in the northern half.
The stars of Cassiopeia, which resemble the letter “W,” are seen high on the northern horizon. At the same time, the stars of the Big Dipper are very low on the northern horizon in the early evening, and depending on where you live, they may be partially below the horizon.
As for the planets, there are Jupiter and Saturn decorating the evening sky at the present time.
Jupiter is the brighter of the two, as it shines on the eastern horizon and Saturn on the southwestern horizon. On the seventeenth day, the moon will be visible next to Saturn.
On December 22, the waxing gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
Using a small telescope, Saturn’s ring system can easily be seen as well as Jupiter’s four large moons, which appear as small stars on either side of Jupiter’s disk and constantly change positions as they orbit the giant planet.
During the night hours this month, you will see the wonderful star constellations in the winter in the northern hemisphere (summer in the southern hemisphere).
The best of them are the Orion stars, or as they are also known (Orion or Orion), which are distinguished by the three successive bright stars that form its belt. In addition to the Gemini stars, there are the bright Taurus stars with the beautiful Pleiades star cluster.
There are also the auriga stars (Auriga), which resemble an unbalanced pentagram, with the bright star Auriga (Capella) representing one of its corners.
The Gemini stars unite just north of the Gemini stars, with the bright stars Castor and Pollux marking the heads of the Geminis with the same names.
Have a fun, star-studded, most wonderful time of the year
