Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, December 15th.  The sun will rise at 8:12.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:02.   The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:15 tomorrow morning.

At 7 p.m. tonight the great central constellation of winter Orion is struggling to rise, with the top half of him in the eastern sky.  By 9 p.m. he’s whole and low in the east-southeast.  By midnight he has taken his rightful place as the central winter constellation.  In the evening now his distinctive belt of three stars in a straight line, by which most folks can find him, is more or less vertical in the sky.  His brightest stars are Betelgeuse a red star to the left of the belt and blue-white Rigel to the right.  When Orion’s the highest in the south we’ll explore the wonders within this constellation, the most famous constellation world over.  Parts of it can be seen at the north and south poles of the Earth.  The Big Dipper, which isn’t a real constellation, doesn’t hold a candle to it.

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

Addendum

Orion rising at 7 p.m. December 15, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Orion rising higher at 9 p.m. December 15, 2014. Created using Stellarium.

Orion close to the meridian at 12 midnight, December 16, 2014. There is distortion in this projection. Orion is standing straighter in the real sky than shown here. Created using Stellarium.