• December 7 – First Quarter
• December 13 – Full Moon
• December 20 – Last Quarter
• December 29 – New Moon
• January 26, 2017 – first General Meeting of New Year, Topeka Library, 7 pm.

Evening Sky:

• Mercury – in southwest
• Venus – in southwest
• Mars – in south
• Uranus – in southeast
• Neptune – in south

Midnight:

• Uranus – in west

Morning Sky:

• Jupiter – in southeast
• Saturn – in southeast, starting late in December

North to South, at 8-10 pm:

• Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
• Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia
• Cassiopeia, the wife of King Cepheus
• Lacerta, the Lizard
• Perseus, vanquisher of Medusa and rescuer of Andromeda
• Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia
• Pegasus, the Winged Horse
• Triangulum, yes, the triangle
• Aries, the Ram
• Taurus, the Bull
• Sagitta, the Arrow
• Cetus, the Sea Monster

• Still LOTS of evening planets in December ! Check out the planet list above. Uranus is easily visible in binoculars, even visible naked-eye with deep dark-vision adaptation, from very dark skies. Mars is readily visible, but don't mistake it for its visual twin, the red star Antares.
• The great Geminid meteor shower peaks December 13, unfortunately right at full moon, which will wash out this year's show.
• Comet fans: we're coming into a 6-8 month period offering lots of comets. Already late in December, one evening comet should be visible in binoculars: periodic comet 45P, with the unlikely name of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova. Look fairly low in the western sky in evening twilight, best late in the month within the constellation Capricorn.