Venus is at greatest Elongation from the Sun. Thus, its disk is 50 percent illuminated in a telescope. Venus is still relatively high by the end of astronomical twilight. It gets to maximum magnitude at the end of the month.

Saturn gets passed by Venus on the 17/18th at 2 degrees distance. After that it will be below Venus. Its narrow rings are closing even more from 4 to 3 degrees.

Jupiter transits at 10 pm at 80 degrees altitude. It is high up most of the night. It is further closing to Aldebaran, although its retrograde motion slows.

Mars is at opposition on the 15th, with a magnitude of -1.5, as bright as Sirius, and a diameter of 14 arc-seconds. It is moving at relatively high speed retrograde, where it comes into line with Pollux and Castor on the 17th and forms a right triangle with them on the 31st. By that time, it transits at 11 pm at an extraordinary 84 degrees altitude.

Uranus and Neptune are evening objects between Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus is near the Pleiades.

Mercury is visible well around 6:30 am in the southeast. It is a little brighter than magnitude zero and thus outshines Antares easily which is further to the right.

The moon occults Mars on the 13th from 6:48 to 7:47 pm. Although Mars is at its brightest, the moon, only a few hours past Full Moon, is blinding so much that binoculars or a telescope are needed to make out Mars next to the lunar disk. It takes the moon about 15 seconds to completely cover and uncover the orange disk of Mars. The moon makes another close pass to Venus on February 1st.

Venus is setting more than three hours after the sun. It is high at sunset in the south/southwest, not around the west as usual.

Saturn transits at dusk. Its rings will be going edge-on within three months.

Jupiter gets into opposition on the 7th at magnitude -2.8 and diameter 48 arc-seconds. It is getting closer to Aldebaran. Ganymede (largest Jupiter moon) and its nearby shadow transit Jupiter’s disk on the 15th from 7-10 pm Arizona time and then on the 22nd after 10 pm.

Mars is approaching its January 15 opposition at magnitude -1.2 and 14 arc-seconds diameter. On the 7th Mars is stationary only 2 degrees from the Beehive cluster. It is moving towards Pollux again.

Uranus and Neptune are evening objects between Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus is near the Pleiades.

Mercury becomes a dawn object starting on the 12th, visible 6-7 am. Around the 24th, it is visible as well as it ever gets from Arizona’s latitude. It is moving above Antares that is less obvious.

The minor planet (15) Eunomia comes into opposition on the 14th in Auriga, a binocular object at magnitude 8. It transits 89 degrees high.

The Moon makes a very close approach to Mars on the 17th around 2:30 am, 17 arc-minutes from the lunar limb. After the New Moon at the end of the year, it shows its thin crescent on the first day of 2025. Two days later it makes a bright pair with Venus.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks on the 13th.

Sunsets are already getting later. The Winter Solstice is December 21st.