Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Wednesday, December 3rd.  The sun will rise at 8:01.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 1 minute, setting at 5:03.   The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:48 tomorrow morning.

In reviewing which planets are visible tonight, it looks like we’re still down to two.  Venus, Saturn and Mercury are hanging around near the direction of the Sun.  It will be a little while before we see them again.  However we can see Mars, which will be low in the southwest at 7 p.m.  It will set at 8:29 p.m.  Mars’ setting time will slowly advance only 6 minutes between now and the end of the year.   Jupiter will rise at 10:28 p.m. in the east-northeast.  The best telescopic views will have to wait a couple of hours after that.  So if you’re more of an early bird rather than a night owl it might be better to view Jupiter with a telescope in the morning.  Jupiter has those four bright moons that change position daily, and sometimes while you watch.

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

Addendum

Mars in the southwest at 7 p.m. December 3, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

A binocular view of what the moon will look like at 7 p.m. December 3, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter rising with the winter constellations at 11 p.m., December 3, 2014. We’re actually looking at the eastern half of the sky. Created using Stellarium.

At 6 a.m. December 4, 2014 Jupiter and the winter constellations will swing into the southwest while out of the view the spring and early summer stars take over the eastern sky. Created using Stellarium.

Telescopic view of Jupiter at 6 a.m. December 4, 2014. The moons on the left in order from left to right are Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. In the next hour the moons will appear to get even closer together, especially Ganymede and Callisto. Created using Stellarium.