This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, December 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 5:02, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:04. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 7:59 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Venus can be spotted low in the south-southwestern sky by 5:30 PM, about 30 minutes after sunset. It appears above the Moon tonight, and will set at 8:09 PM. Saturn will be in the south-southeast at 6 PM. Jupiter will rise at 5:09 PM in the east-northeast, and be a good object for the small telescope about an hour later. Mars, rises tonight at 8:47, Both Mars and Jupiter are considered morning planets, since they are still up at sunrise, though Jupiter will be an evening planet after Saturday. By 6:00 AM tomorrow Jupiter will be in the west, above and right of Orion, while reddish Mars will be high in the southwest. Jupiter and Saturn are great planets to view with a small telescope.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Venus will appear above the waxing crescent moon this evening. This is their separation at 5:30 PM from Northern Michigan. The Moon will be moving to the upper left compared to Venus. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight as it might appear in a small telescope. Selected features ae labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Venus and Saturn as they would appear about 6:30 this evening. The Moon is lost in the bloated image of Venus. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter with Mars rising in the east at 9:00 PM with Orion also rising. Created using Stellarium.
By 6:00 AM the winter stars and Jupiter have moved into the west with Orion about to set. Jupiter is seen in the West with Mars high up in the southwest. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification. All the planets are shown for tonight, Jupiter specifically for 8 PM, December 4, 2024. Apparent diameters: Venus 17.6″, 66.4% illuminated; Saturn 17.3″, its rings 40.3″, 5.1 degrees from edge on (closing again); Jupiter 48.2″; Mars, 12.0″, 93.5% illuminated. Saturn’s rings are actually much brighter than depicted here. Planetary surface detail is more subtle than shown here. The ” means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on December 4, 2024. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, December 4 and 5, 2024. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 
