December 9, 2024: Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and the moon line up along an imaginary arc that spans the sky after sunset. Mars joins the scene later during the night.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:07 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:20 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Morning Sky
Jupiter, Mars during Morning Twilight
Jupiter and Mars are visible before sunrise. An hour before daybreak, bright Jupiter is low in the west-northwest. After its nearly all-night westward journey from the east-northeast, it is not in the sky at this hour in about 10 days.
Mars is over halfway up in the west-southwest, 13.0° to Pollux’s upper left. The Red Planet retrogrades in front of Cancer, 4.2° to the upper right of dim Asellus Australis.
Use a binocular to see Mars with the Beehive star cluster that is inside an irregular box made by Asellus Australis, Asellus Borealis, Eta Cancri (η Cnc on the chart) and Theta Cancri (θ Cnc).
Evening Sky
Evening Planets Line Up
Three bright evening planets and the gibbous moon are visible after nightfall and as the sky darkens. A fourth rises later during the night.
An hour after sundown, find brilliant Venus gleaming in the southwest. The planet sets a few minutes later each evening compared to sunset, making it appear higher at this time interval after nightfall.
The planet steps eastward against a dimmer Capricornus’ starfield that is diminished further by tonight’s bright moon.
Through a telescope, Venus shows an evening gibbous phase, 65% illuminated.
Venus is overtaking Saturn that is less than halfway up in the south. They are 40° apart. The gap closes noticeably during the next few weeks. Venus passes Saturn on January 18th.
Saturn, only 1% of the Evening Star’s brilliance, is considerably dimmer than Venus, although it is the brightest star in the region. The Ringed Wonder crawls slowly eastward against a faint Aquarius starfield. It is about 20° above Fomalhaut, “the mouth of the Southern Fish.”
Sky watchers may have noticed that Saturn is not as bright as it usually appears. The diminished brightness is from the orientation of the planet’s rings. From Earth, the highly-reflective rings are more edge on than in recent years. They are only tilted about 5° along our sight line.
Earth passes through the ring plane during March next year when they appear edge on, so they will nearly seem to disappear. During the next 15 years, we see the southern side of the rings.
Moon Joins the Lineup
The gibbous moon, 65% illuminated, is over halfway up in the southeastern sky, over 20° to Saturn’s upper left.
Bright Jupiter in East-Northeast
Farther eastward, bright Jupiter is nearly 15° up in the east-northeast. It is between Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star, and Elnath, the Bull’s northern horn. A few nights past opposition and its closest Earth passage, the Jovian Giant continues the illusion of retrograde.
Zodiacal Background
From an opening where the three planets and moon are visible, notice that they are lined up along an arc beginning with Jupiter and Taurus in the east and ending with Venus and Capricornus in the southwest. This arc is the solar system’s plane, known as the ecliptic. The accompanying background stars make the zodiac – or circle of animals – although Libra is the only inanimate figure in the group.
The moon and planets are found along the ecliptic. It is important to note that the moon does not appear near the Big Dipper or Sirius. Capella, the bright star to Jupiter’s upper left and about 25° above the northeast horizon is too far from the ecliptic to be considered part of the zodiac.
Mars Rises later during the Night
Mars rises over three hours after sunset. Two hours later, it is 15° up in the east-northeast, 50° to the lower left of Jupiter and about 15° below Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins, the next zodiacal constellation east of Taurus.
Mars retrogrades in front of Cancer’s dim stars. It is near the Beehive star cluster, but the view through a binocular is better when Mars is higher in the sky, like the scene during morning twilight.
Tomorrow evening, the view of the zodiac is nearly the same as tonight, except that the moon is farther eastward and with a larger gibbous phase than this evening.
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