A Clear, Warm Sky to End 2011

An adventure out for sky gazing this evening will be warm and moon filled. The moon will be at first quarter 75 minutes into the new year and just to the right of Jupiter, both in dim Aries. Venus dominates the western sky for longer and longer after sunset as it continues it's chase around the sun with Earth. When it catches us on June 5, 2012 it will cross the face of the sun for the last time for another 112 years. Mars rises a little after 10 tonight nearing the head of Virgo and Saturn is not up until about 1:30am near the feet of Virgo (it's a big constellation). Mercury peeks above the horizon just before the sun but is hard to see now and will disappear behind the sun early in 2012 not showing up again until late February in the evening sky.
The bright constellations of winter are rising earlier and earlier and their bright stars will be fine for viewing even with all the moon light. Check it out, the warm evenings will not last.

A Cloudy Stretch to Xmas

The waning crescent moon was below Saturn and Virgo's Spica this morning and will continue to slide closer to Mercury over the next couple of morning. Jupiter reigns in the southeast on the Aries/Virgo boundary after sunset and Venus, in Capricorn, continues to climb higher in the west each day as it rules the winter as the evening star. Mars rises about 11pm and will ride through the night with Leo.
Earth will reach it's December solstice at 12:30 EST on the 22nd and kick off the winter in the northern hemisphere and summer south of the equator. The moon is new at 1:06pm on xmas eve. A thin waxing crescent will hang with Venus on the 26th and should be lovely but...
All these sky events will likely by obscured by clouds over the next several days here in the mid-Atlantic but you never know when you'll get a peak at the sky. It might be clear by next Monday.