12/27/2017 – Ephemeris – All the bright planets are in the morning sky. However the Moon is in the evening sky.

Ephemeris for Wednesday, December 27th. The Sun will rise at 8:18. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:08. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 2:43 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. While Uranus and Neptune are evening planets, they require binoculars or a telescope to spot. All of the bright naked eye planets are in the morning sky now, However Saturn and Venus, the brightest are too close to the Sun to be seen. At 7 this morning Mars is in the south-southeast while Jupiter is a lot brighter and below and left of it. Mars will rise tomorrow morning at 3:49. It’s approaching Jupiter which will rise 23 minutes later at 4:12. Mercury will be a challenge to spot, rising in the east-southeast at 6:32 a.m. both today and tomorrow. At 7 a.m. It will require a low horizon, binoculars and luck to find. In its next evening appearance in March it will be placed much higher in the sky for the same twilight conditions.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The only bright solar system object visible in the evening is the gibbous Moon. Binoculars will reveal several large craters this evening December 27, 2017. Created using Stellarium.

Three planets are visible at 7 in the morning. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter and its four Galilean moons as they might be seen in a telescope at 7 a.m. this morning, December 27, 2017. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Earlier in the morning both Io and Europa will be eclipsed in Jupiter’s shadow and be occulted by the planet.

Moon    Event           UT       Time in Traverse Area
Europa: Eclipse start   5:15 UT
Io:     Eclipse start   6:43 UT
Europa: Occultation end 9:27 UT  4:27 a.m. EST
Io:     Occultation end 9:47 UT  4:47 a.m. EST

Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on December 27, 2017. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 28th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.