High in the southern sky at sunset, this Moon lights the landscape until about midnight.

This Full Moon is closest to Earth of any Full Moon in 2008. At 5 p.m. EST, the distance, center to center, is about 356,566 km (about 221,560 miles). The nearness of the Moon at this time may produce exceptionally large high tides (perigean tides).

High in the southern sky at sunset, this Moon lights the landscape until about midnight.

The nearly-full Moon passes less than a degree north of the center of the Pleiades star cluster (M45) in Taurus. This is well up in the western sky for eastern observers, and even higher (and earlier) for observers farther west.

This Full Moon is closest to Earth of any Full Moon in 2008. At 5 p.m. EST, the distance, center to center, is about 356,566 km (about 221,560 miles). The nearness of the Moon at this time may produce exceptionally large high tides (perigean tides).

Mercury has emerged into the evening sky although as usual, never is a particularly easy target. As the month dawns it is too low to see, but the chances get better toward the end of the month when it passes Jupiter in the western twilight on the 30th.

Venus brigthens further still to magnitude minus 4.2 and is reasonably well placed in the southwest sky at sunset. At the beginning of the month is it near fainter Jupiter, having passed each other by about 2 degrees on 11/30. On December 1, Venus, the Moon and Jupiter make a striking sight in the southwestern dusk. By midmonth Venus and Jupiter have separated significantly, with Venus still easily visible but Jupiter dipping lower to the horizon. At month's end, Venus is even better situated.

Being in conjunction with the Sun on the 5th, Mars cannot be seen this month. It does not emerge from the solar glare in the morning sky until late January.

Between Sagittarius and Capriconus, Jupiter can be found in the southwestern sky shortly after sunset at the beginning of the month (passing quite near Venus on the first), but drops ever closer to the glare of the setting Sun as the month wears on. By the end of the month is it quite difficult to locate, but passes a little more than a degree from Mercury on the 31st.

Saturn rises before midnight by about midmonth, making it an "evening" planet. It rises earlier and earlier over the next few months, making it an increasingly important object for evening observers, especially since Mars cannot be seen and Jupiter is lost to evening observations by the end of the month. After Venus-set, Saturn is the dominant planet for the rest of the night. Technically still in Leo, Saturn is currently roughly midway between Regulus in Leo and Spica in Virgo.