Look Up!

This is a bit off-topic, but it's nice to get away from politics, if only for a fleeting moment or two. So when you stop reading this post, go outside, and look up!

From the Washington Post:

Unwrap a bounty of night-sky gifts this holiday season: visible planets, glorious conjunctions, a close-up full moon and a change of season.
Jupiter and Venus begin December in conjunction at dusk in the southwestern sky. If the sky remains clear, the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, officially occurring tomorrow night, will be spectacular. Venus is the brighter of the two planets, and it remains high in the southwest throughout December, while the gaseous Jupiter descends the western horizon all month.
Venus, ever effervescent, is visible at negative fourth magnitude (ultra bright), and it is easily mistaken for a distant jetliner approaching Dulles International Airport with its landing lights on. Jupiter at negative second magnitude is bright enough to enjoy from the urban light-polluted sky. At month's end, Venus sets after 8 p.m., and Jupiter sets before 6 p.m.
Tonight, notice that the sliver of a young moon is below Jupiter and Venus, while tomorrow night the crescent can be seen above the planetary duo. Young moons always appear briefly in the western sky at dusk and early evening.
At the very end of December, the fleet Mercury (zero magnitude, or bright) joins with Jupiter at dusk in the southwest for another conjunction. The brighter Jupiter is to Mercury's left, and Venus is far above the fray.