Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24th.  The sun will rise at 8:17.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:07.   The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 5:47 tomorrow morning.

The planet Jupiter is high in the east and southeast.  If there’s a telescope under that tree this evening, the moon and Jupiter will be the first things to turn that telescope to.  First take the telescope outside and look at a distant terrestrial object.  Align the finder to the object you can see with telescope.  That will make sure you can find what you’re looking for in the sky.  Jupiter right now is above the face of Taurus the bull.  In a telescope it’s a distinct disk with several stars, up to 4 that flank it, pretty much in a straight line.  These are Jupiter’s 4 largest moons, originally discovered by Galileo in 1610.  They will change position from night to night.  The disc of the planet will have lines on it running in the same direction as the moons.

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

Addendum

Where to find Jupiter. Shown ay 9 p.m. Christmas eve 2012. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter and its satellites. One of my old photos.

Jupiter with Callisto above, Ganymede and its shadow below on December 6, 2012 by Scott Anttila, Click to enlarge.

Jupiter will not show this detail in a small telescope, however the more one observes Jupiter or any planet more and more detail will be revealed.