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Monday, Dec. 4<\/strong> \u2013 The moon will rise over the eastern horizon late this evening at 11:23 p.m. when it is about an hour and a half before Last Quarter.<\/p>\n Tuesday, Dec. 5<\/strong> \u2013 Last Quarter Moon will occur after midnight at 12:49 a.m. Throughout the night, the moon will reside against the central stars of Leo the Lion with its brightest star, Regulus, to the west of the moon.<\/p>\n Wednesday, Dec. 6<\/strong> \u2013 Saturn is reaching its highest altitude in the south around 5 p.m., more than a half-hour after sunset. Wait another half-hour for the sky to darken to see the star-like appearance of the Ringed Planet. Meanwhile, Jupiter is more than 25 times brighter than Saturn, and is easily seen in the east-southeast around 5 p.m.<\/p>\n Thursday, Dec. 7<\/strong> \u2013In the evening sky, look with binoculars low in the bright southwestern twilight a half-hour after sunset for the star-like appearance of Mercury. In the predawn sky, a celestial trio made of the waning lunar crescent, Spica (the brightest star of Virgo) and Venus gather in the southeast by 5 a.m.<\/p>\n Friday, Dec. 8<\/strong> \u2013 Earliest sunset of the year this evening at 4:21 p.m.<\/p>\n Saturday, Dec. 9<\/strong> \u2013 A picturesque scene will adorn the east-southeastern horizon in the hours before sunrise with a slim lunar crescent appearing near Venus.<\/p>\n Sunday, Dec. 10<\/strong> \u2013 Orion is over the eastern horizon by 7:15 p.m. Then Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky, rises out of the east-southeast just after 8:30 p.m. At the same time, Alkaid, the star at the tip of the Big Dipper\u2019s handle is \u201cbalancing\u201d the Dipper from its location just above the north point.<\/p>\n
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