When the stars come out on New Year’s Eve, you can expect the gibbous moon to rise in the east at 8 p.m. The moon will dominate the sky for the rest of the night. It is in the zodiacal constellation Leo, near the bright star Regulus.

For those who are up and outside at midnight, the moon is high in the east, bright enough to cast a visible shadow.

Orion is the easiest constellation to spot in the southwest. Orion is a winter hunter and is easily to spot if you look for three evenly spaced stars in a line. The three stars are the hunter’s belt. To the left of Orion there is the bright star Sirius, the brightest star in our evening sky. The three stars in the hunter’s belt form a line pointing to Sirius.

Other than the moon, the planet Jupiter is the brightest celestial object in the sky, appears high in the western sky at midnight. Jupiter is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus.

The earth’s two nearest neighboring planets, Venus and Mars, are now more difficult to spot. Venus is low in the east at sunrise, and Mars is low in the western sky at sunset. Venus is an easy to spot, bright against the light of dawn. Mars is far more challenging. The red planet lacks the luster and it is barely visible above the light of dusk.

The ringed planet Saturn rises in the east at 4 a.m. in the morning. The planet is in the zodiacal constellation Libra.