Christmas Sky 2025: What to Observe in the Late December Sky 2025?
What celestial gifts does the night sky have in store for us this Christmas? From bright planets and meteor showers to unusual star patterns and deep-sky objects – try to spot them all! With the free Sky Tonight app, it’s easy: just type the name of a celestial object into the search bar, and the app will show you its position in your local sky. Read on to discover everything about this year’s Christmas sky.
Contents
- “Christmas Stars”: Jupiter, Mercury, Sirius, and More
- Christmas Constellations and Asterisms
- Make a Wish: The Ursid Meteor Shower
- Christmas Deep-Sky Objects
- How to find the Christmas sky objects?
- What to See in the Christmas Night Sky 2025: Bottom Line
“Christmas Stars”: Jupiter, Mercury, Sirius, and More
In Christian tradition, the “Christmas Star” is the mysterious celestial object that guided the Magi to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem. We use this term metaphorically to describe particularly bright objects (mostly planets) that you can see during the holiday season. Here are the planets and stars that stand out in the sky in late December 2025.
Jupiter – The Brightest Christmas “Star” 2025
The biggest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter, rules the 2025 Christmas sky. Just weeks before its January opposition, the giant planet glows at its seasonal best – bright and unmistakable. Around Christmas, Jupiter (mag -2.7) rises high in the constellation Gemini and is easily visible with the naked eye as a bright, warm-tinted point. Even modest binoculars will allow you to glimpse its four largest moons. By New Year’s Eve, Jupiter climbs even higher, visible from the late evening – a brilliant celestial “lantern” welcoming the coming year!
Mercury – The Rare Guest
On Christmas morning, the universe offers a special gift for early risers: the elusive planet Mercury, usually lost in sunlight, will shine brightly in the dawn sky. Mercury is at its year’s best visibility for the Northern Hemisphere, shining like a tiny holiday ornament low in the southeastern horizon before sunrise. Earlier this month, on December 7, Mercury reached its greatest western elongation, the biggest distance from the Sun in the sky. During Christmas week, it remains well-placed for observation, staying about 12° from the Sun. With a magnitude of -0.6, Mercury is one of the brightest objects in the early-morning sky.
Saturn – The Ringed Ornament
The ringed planet Saturn (mag 1.0) appears shortly after sunset and is visible in twilight low above the southeastern horizon. Through a telescope, its slightly open, famous rings may be a rewarding sight for a holiday observer. Look for the planet in the constellation Aquarius.
Sirius – The Twinkling Jewel
Blue Sirius (mag -1.4), the only true star in this list, rises in the southeast during the evening hours. It reaches its highest point in the southern sky around midnight. Because Sirius is both extremely bright and relatively low above the horizon, it twinkles with vivid rainbow colors due to atmospheric turbulence – a striking and unmistakable holiday spark. Look for it in the constellation Canis Major
Venus & Mars – Playing Hard to Get
Venus, usually the brightest star-like object in the sky, will be too close to the Sun in December 2025 to be adequately observed, so don't have high hopes for seeing it.
The Red Planet Mars is also approaching solar conjunction, making it very difficult to distinguish in the bright twilight sky.
Want to learn about other bright stars visible in December’s sky? Read our dedicated article.
Christmas Constellations and Asterisms
The Christmas night sky is decorated with festive constellations and asterisms that are easy to spot. Some of them are well-known, and some are hidden – let’s learn their stories!
Orion – The Christmas Present
The constellation Orion, one of the most recognizable patterns in the night sky, shines brightly during the holiday season, resembling a cosmic “Christmas present”. Have you ever looked at it that way? Four bright stars (Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Saiph, and Rigel) outline the package, while the three stars in Orion’s Belt asterism (Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka) form a gleaming ribbon! Watch our “video poem” about Orion and its neighboring constellations, stars, and star clusters.
If you “unwrap” this celestial gift using your binoculars, you’ll find the magnificent Orion Nebula, located just below Orion’s Belt. On a clear night, you can even spot it with the naked eye as a faint, fuzzy patch. Let this stellar nursery, where new stars are born, inspire the spirit of renewal and wonder that the holiday season brings!
The Orion’s Belt – The Three Kings
Another way to look at the Orion’s Belt is as a representation of the biblical story. In many Christmas sky traditions, the three bright stars of the Orion’s Belt – Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka – are nicknamed “The Three Kings” or “The Three Wise Men.” Lined up in a nearly straight row, they point down toward Sirius, as if they are following the “Star of Bethlehem.” Around Christmas, you’ll see them rising in the east during the evening and climbing high into the southern sky later at night.
The Winter Hexagon – The Celestial Wreath
The Winter Hexagon (or Winter Circle) is a huge, six-sided pattern of bright stars that dominates the winter sky of the Northern Hemisphere, including around Christmas. Its corners are marked by some of the sky’s brightest stars: Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel (with Betelgeuse glowing inside the figure). Together, they outline a sparkling “celestial wreath” that frames many of the season’s best constellations, from Orion to Gemini.
To find the Winter Hexagon, begin with the Orion’s Belt. Look for the bright star that forms the lower right corner of Orion’s four-star outline – that’s Rigel; then extend the Belt’s line outward to locate Sirius on one side and Aldebaran on the other. From there, follow the loop of bright stars – Procyon, Pollux, and Capella – to complete the giant circle. Still sounds tricky? Then simply type “Winter Hexagon” into the search bar in the Sky Tonight app, tap the target icon, and point your device at the sky – the app will automatically align and guide you straight to the asterism.
Unusual Asterism – The Christmas Goose
Looking for something new for this year’s Christmas stargazing session? Chances are, you haven’t seen the Christmas Goose asterism! Information about it can be found in the book “Binocular Highlights” by astronomer Gary Seronik. The Christmas Goose is made up of about 10 bright stars near Mirfak – the brightest star in the northern constellation Perseus. Grab your binoculars and use the Sky Tonight app to find the asterism in your local sky!
Old Constellation Rangifer – The Celestial Reindeer
Here is another new target for stargazing enthusiasts! Or should we say “old”? French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier created the constellation Rangifer in the 18th century, but it wasn’t included in the list of 88 officially recognized constellations, so now it’s considered “obsolete”.
In Latin, Rangifer means “reindeer”. Will you be able to find the reindeer in the sky this Christmas? Even though this constellation is gone from the modern star charts, its stars remain in the sky – they’re located between the North Star and the right side of the “M” of Cassiopeia. As many of these stars are faint, you’ll need a dark sky to find them. Use the illustration above and the Sky Tonight app as your guide.
Some constellation names sound so strange that you wonder if they truly exist. Cat, Fly, Electricity Generator…can you guess which one is still up in the sky? Take our quiz on constellations’ names to find out!.
Make a Wish: The Ursid Meteor Shower
What better time than Christmas to make wishes under the “falling stars”? You’ll have the perfect opportunity on December 22, when the Ursids reach their peak. This meteor shower is best visible in the northern latitudes and can produce up to 10 meteors per hour. This year, the Ursids’ peak will occur just two days after the New Moon, so the sky will be dark, providing great viewing conditions.
Christmas Deep-Sky Objects
The festive night sky also includes deep-sky jewels that lie far beyond our Solar System. To explore them at their best, you require a bit of darkness and simple gear.
M44 – The Praesepe (Manger)
The open star cluster M44, also known as Praesepe or the Beehive Cluster, has a name that literally means “manger,” making it a perfect fit for Christmas sky lore. It sits in the constellation Cancer and appears as a soft, hazy patch to the naked eye under dark skies, but it really comes to life in binoculars, where dozens of tiny stars pop into view. Around Christmas, you’ll find M44 high in the late-night and early-morning sky for mid-northern observers, roughly between Castor and Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo. To pinpoint it instantly, just search for “M44” in Sky Tonight and let the app guide your gaze.
NGC 2264 – Christmas Tree
About 2,500 light-years away, in the constellation Monoceros, a celestial Christmas tree glows faintly against the dark sky. This festive-looking deep-sky object, known as NGC 2264 or Christmas Tree cluster, is a star cluster embedded in a nebula. NGC 2264 spans about 30 light-years across and consists of young stars aged between 1 and 5 million years.
Although the Christmas Tree cluster has a promising apparent magnitude of 3.9, it’s difficult to see with the naked eye. We recommend using wide-field binoculars to observe it. To find out where to look for the cluster in your sky, use the Sky Tonight app.
How to find the Christmas sky objects?
No astronomy expert around to explain what you are seeing in the sky right now? With Sky Tonight, you can be that expert yourself! Open the app, allow location access, then point your phone at the sky. Move your phone across the sky to see the names of planets, stars, and constellations appear instantly. Gift a Sky Tonight subscription for Christmas to yourself or a loved one to go even further, with no ads and a richer list of entries in the Visible Tonight and Calendar.
What to See in the Christmas Night Sky 2025: Bottom Line
The night sky offers plenty of celestial wonders this holiday season, from bright planets to unique asterisms and deep-sky objects. Whether you’re trying to spot the Christmas Tree Cluster, making a wish on the Ursids, or hunting for the celestial reindeer, there’s magic waiting above. With the Sky Tonight app as your guide, exploring the Christmas sky will be easy and fun.
We wish you clear skies and a Merry Christmas!
