Moonwatch

December’s top lunar feature to observe

Comets and asteroids

Asteroid Herculina should be an easy spot in Orion and Taurus this month

Star of the month

At the river’s end, Cursa, 2nd-brightest star in Eridanus

Binocular tour

This month, we turn at a T-junction, pop into a house and admire the Christmas Tree

The Sky Guide Challenge

Can you resolve not just the Trapezium Cluster but its fainter hangers-on?

Deep-sky tour

We explore the best celestial sights around Aries, Pisces and Triangulum

At a glance

How the Sky Guide events will appear in December

ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH

rmg.co.uk/astrophoto

How to deflect an asteroid

An epic trial run of a plan that may one day save Earth took place in September

Apollo 17

Apollo leaves its final footprints on the Moon in a mission marked by several remarkable firsts