Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, December 3rd.  The sun will rise at 8:01.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 1 minute, setting at 5:02.   The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:56 this evening.

Off in the southeast at 9 in the evening the great constellation of Orion will be seen now.  This is the most famous of all constellations world wide.  We think the Big Dipper is a big deal.  It’s not even a constellation, being the hind end of the great bear Ursa Major.  However it’s invisible if one travels far enough south of the equator.  Orion is now a rectangle of stars tilted to the left as he rises.  With three stars in a straight line in the center.  They are aligned nearly vertically.  Orion is a giant hunter.  The rectangle depict his shoulders and knees.  Among its other bright stars Orion contains two of the brightest.  The upper left star is the famous red giant star Betelgeuse.  The lower left star is the blue=white super giant Rigel.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Orion rising at 9 p.m. December 3, 2012. Created using Stellarium.