The December night sky

The highlights to watch out for in December, including the annual Geminids meteor shower, somewhat swamped this year by the proximity of another 'supermoon'

The unrivalled constellation of Orion is the stand-out feature of our long December nights which are bracketed by the two brightest planets - Venus as a brilliant evening star, and Jupiter in the pre-dawn. It is a shame that yet another supermoon coincides with the peak of the Geminids meteor shower to swamp what might have been the richest meteor display of the year.