December 31, 2024: Five planets are visible during nighttime. After sunset, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars span the sky during the evening hours.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:18 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:30 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
At year’s end, daylight’s length is 9 hours, 12 minutes.
On New Year’s Eve, look for a bright four-planet display during the early evening. Before sunrise Mercury is visible.
Morning Planet Display
During morning twilight Mercury is low in the southeast. It retreats into brighter twilight after its greatest elongation a few mornings ago, brightening on the way.
This morning at 45 minutes before sunrise, the speedy planet is over 5° above the horizon and 10.8° to Antares’ lower left, Scorpius’ brightest star. They are too far apart to fit into the same binocular field of view.
Mercury races toward superior conjunction, in line with the bright sun during the daytime on February 9th. Mercury, Saturn, and the moon make a compact group that fits into the same binocular field of view on February 28th, but this occurs during brighter twilight.
During morning twilight, Scorpius climbs into the southeastern sky during early winter. Its claws, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, reach westward about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead in the south-southeast.
Antares, the Scorpion’s heart, is nearly 10° above the southeast horizon, likely twinkling wildly from the air currents dispersing starlight into its component colors.
Dschubba, the arachnid’s forehead, is over 15° up in the sky and 7.8° to Antares’ upper right.
Scorpius continues to climb higher into the sky. It is not fully visible until early February when the star Sargas, possibly meaning “The Seizer” or “The Smiter,” among others, clears the south-southeast horizon.
Morning Mars
At this hour, bright Mars is about 25° up in the west, to the upper left of Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins. The planet retrogrades in front of Cancer, 6.0° to the Beehive cluster’s lower left. They tightly fit into the same binocular field.
Earth overtakes Mars on January 15th, passing between the sun and the planet. The Red Planet rises in the east-northeast at sunset and sets in the west-northwest at sunrise.
New Year’s Planet Display
Four bright planets are strung along the ecliptic, the plane of the solar system, during the early evening. Brilliant Venus is seen as early as 30 minutes after sunset in the southwestern sky. As the sky darkens, Saturn is visible less than 17° to Venus’ upper left.
Through a telescope, the Evening Star shows an evening gibbous phase, 55% illuminated. The planet reaches greatest elongation on January 9th, when it is 47.2° from the sun, setting nearly four hours after nightfall. Venus quickly steps eastward against the starfield, moving in front of Aquarius tonight. Venus overtakes and passes Saturn on the 18th.
Saturn slowly plods eastward against Aquarius’ dim stars. The planet is not as bright as usual. Its highly-reflective rings are seen nearly edge-on, so the planet’s visual intensity is reduced. Tonight, it is less than 1% of Venus’ brightness, though it is brightest starlike body in the immediate region.
Jupiter
Farther eastward, bright Jupiter stands about 30° above the eastern horizon. It retrogrades in front of Taurus, 5.7° to Aldebaran’s upper left, the Bull’s brightest star, and 11.4° to Elnath’s upper right, the northern horn. The planet is nearly 50 times brighter than Saturn, but only 25% Venus’ visual intensity.
Evening Mars
Approaching opposition, as mentioned in the morning section, Mars rises 82 minutes after sundown. By three hours after sunset, the Red Planet is less than 20° up in the east-northeast and 8.7° below Pollux.
New Year’s Eve Planet Display
At this hour, from east-northeast to west-southwest, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are along the plane of the solar system. The background stars are known as the zodiac. Venus and Saturn appear in front of the dimmer constellations, while Jupiter and Mars are near brighter stars that make tracking their motions easier.
During the night, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter set with Mars in the western sky again on New Year’s morning.
This evening planet display continues for the next month with Mars rising earlier each night.
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