Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 11th.  The sun will rise at 8:09.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:02.   The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 7:13 tomorrow morning.

At 8 to 9 p.m. The constellation of Taurus the bull rises higher in the east to southeast.  Taurus contains two bright clusters of stars.  The most famous of these is the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters.  The other is a letter V shape that is the face of Taurus, the Hyades.  In the Greek mythology they are half-sisters of each other, all fathered by the Titan Atlas.  They are apparently fleeing from the giant Orion rising in the east.  The Pleiades are the younger of the two star clusters, and there has been some problem in estimating their distance.  They could be from 390 to 460 light years away.  The distance to Hyades is much better known at 153 light years.  It was the star cluster upon which greater distances could be measured.

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

Addendum

The Hyades (lower left) and the Pleiades (upper right). My photograph from many years ago.