December 3-6, 2024: Look for a pretty Venus-Moon display after sunset. The Evening Star and lunar crescent are photogenic in their evening performance.
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by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Moon’s New Lunation
The moon returns to the southwestern evening sky after its New phase on the 1st, beginning lunation 1261 – the number of lunar cycles since the counting system began in 1923. This is the last complete lunar cycle for the year. The next lunation begins on December 30th.
Anytime the moon appears near a bright planet or star, the view is pretty, especially when the moon is at a crescent phase.
The view is accented by earthshine on the moon’s night side. This is sunlight reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land that softly lights the lunar night.
Earthshine can be captured with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds, although a hand-held camera can record the view when held steadily.
Venus’ Visibility Improves
Venus is easier to see tonight than just a month ago. Since its first appearance in the evening sky, its visibility for northern hemisphere sky watchers has suffered from a low angle the solar system’s plane made with the western horizon. After it passed the coordinates of the sun’s winter solstice location on November 11th, it is appearing farther northward and higher in the sky after sundown.
Venus crosses the Sagittarius-Capricornus boundary on the 6th heading toward a wide conjunction with Algedi, meaning “The Kid,” and marking Capricornus’ head on the 10th. The planet continues eastward toward the tail, Deneb Algedi, passing by on the 27th.
The Venus-Saturn gap is 46.7° on the 3rd, reduced to 43.4° on the 6th. Venus, stepping eastward faster than Saturn’s crawl, overtakes the Ringed Wonder on January 18th.
After sunset during early December, the Evening Star is nearly 20° above the southwestern horizon an hour after sunset. Because of its dazzling brightness it can be seen shortly after sunset. It sets over three hours after sundown, gaining two to three minutes of setting time each night compared to sunset. By month’s end ,Venus sets nearly four hours after sundown.
Evening Venus-Moon Display
During the next four evenings, the moon passes Venus and moves away toward the east. Here’s what to see an hour after sunset:
- December 3: Bright Venus is nearly 15° up in the southwest. The crescent moon, 7% illuminated, is over 5° above the southwest horizon, over 13° to Venus’ lower right. Find a clear horizon to see the lunar crescent.
- December 4: Venus and Moon are in the same binocular field. The lunar crescent, 14% illuminated, is 3.0° to the planet’s lower left. Tonight, and during the next two lunations, the pair makes wonderful scenes. This is a pretty view for photography.
- December 5: The crescent moon, 22% illuminated, is over 20° above the south-southwest horizon and 11.7° to Venus’ upper left.
- December 6: The moon, 32% illuminated, is over 30° up in the south-southwest and nearly 25° to Venus’ upper left, over halfway from this brilliant planet to Saturn that is less than halfway up in the south. With the increasing phase, earthshine is more challenging to see. Moonlight begins to illuminated terrestrial features and cast shadows. For sky watchers in southwest Africa, the moon occults or eclipses the star Gamma Capricorni, also known as Nashira, earlier this evening. Use a binocular to see the moon, Nashira and Deneb Algedi.
Look for this beautiful evening Venus-Moon display.
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