The Moon
Full on 2nd rising at 15:31 setting at 8:32
Last Quarter on 9th rising at 24:00 setting at 12:10
New on 16th rising at 08:36 setting at 15:24
First Quarter on 24th rising at 11:20 setting at 24:00
There will also be a Lunar Eclipse on the 31st. It'll be very slight and easily missed, particularly at that time of the year! It'll last from about 7pm to short of 8pm. Just the bottom edge should become dimmer.
Planets. Jupiter is fading out of contention this month, on the 1st it'll be setting at 9.20pm, but it'll be dark enough to observe by 5pm so we'll have some hours with it yet. By the end of the month it'll set at 8pm, so this is your last chance to see it for some time.
Neptune is accompanying Jupiter all month as it has done for the last several, but this month it will get to within half a degree on the 20th and 21st as they go down into the west together, Jupiter at mag -2.2 and Neptune at mag 7.9, fainter than Jupiter's moons, but it'll be blue.
Uranus is following them, but at a safe distance and will set half an hour after midnight on the 1st, and at 10.30pm on the 31st.
Out in the east, Mars is first up and can be seen all night starting from 9pm on the 1st, and from 7.10pm on the 31st. It'll start the month at 10 arcsec and mag -0.1, and by the end of the month will be more than twice as bright at mag -0.8 and about 13 arcsec, and should be showing some detail on its face, if the seeing is good enough. It'll certainly be high enough to be worth webcaming.
Saturn will be just coming into view by 1.30am on the 1st and will be well up by midnight at month's end. It'll be getting a little brighter too and the rings will be easier to see, but perhaps that's wishful thinking. As with Mars, it'll be available all night.
Mercury can be seen from about the 19th to the 26th in evening twilight when the Sun has set, but will set itself by dark. Not a good month for Mercury.
Not a good month for Venus either, as it'll be too close to the Sun to be seen all month.
On the 31st there will be a Partial Lunar Eclipse. It'll start as the Moon rises in the north east at 5.30pm and end at 9.30pm, it should be easily noticed by the general public, as the Earth's shadow will cover the top half of the Moon.
Meteor Showers.
December has two showers of interest, the Geminids and the Ursids. The Geminids shower is the more prolific getting up to 120/hour at the Zenith at their peak on the 13th, whereas the Ursids amount to 10 ZHR at their peak on the 22nd. The Moon will be almost new so will be out of the way for the Geminids so it should be a display worth sitting out for. If we have Austerfield to ourselves it may be a good plan to have a meteor watch on the weekend of the 12th and 13th. The Ursids, on the other hand will have a quarter Moon in the sky though not near the Radiant. The Geminids radiate from the constellation Gemini of course, near Castor, and the Ursids from Ursa Minor, near the Pole star.
Comets. None currently brighter than mag 9 and none forecast, yet, to brighten into naked eye visibility in the near future, but they are nothing if not inscrutable, so keep your ear to the ground, figuratively, of course, we have members with big feet.
What else? The Summer Triangle will be lowering into the west in December and will be soon out of contention being low in the north with the light dome of Doncaster to contend with. Deneb and Vega don't actually set as they are circumpolar and could be seen creeping along the northern horizon to emerge in May.
This leaves the winter sky to Orion and his cohorts, led by the Pleiades in Taurus, and Auiga and Perseus. Lots of fine things to look for with binoculars and telescopes. The Hyades and Pleiades and the Auriga clusters above them are beautiful in binoculars, the Beehive cluster rising an hour before Mars too.
For nebulae hunters, the Orion region into Monoceros, Taurus, Gemini and Auriga will provide fruitful regions to explore, and for galaxy aficionados Leo will be coming up too late nights in December followed by Virgo and Coma Berenices and of course, Ursa Major is always there, being circum-polar.
Satellites
ISS Quite a lot of passes, but all in the early hours, 5 or 6am! No sensible folk are about then so if you want timings, you'll have to look up www.heavens-above.com
Iridium Flares
9th at 18:27:10 Mag -6 42° up in the NNE
11th at 16:18:54 Mag -3 71° up in the East
12th at 18:10:39 Mag -4 45° up in the NE
14th at 16:00:33 Mag -8 70° up in the East
19th at 17:34:47 Mag -6 57° up in the NE
and a min and a half later
19th at 17:36:17 Mag -2 57° up in the NE
Again lots more at www.heavens-above.com
Brian