the planets as they appear on today's date (updates continuously each day)

This shows what the current sky looks like. The southern horizon is at the bottom. Directly overhead is located in the middle of the diagram.
current night sky over Los Angeles, CA
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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Binocular Comet Lovejoy Heading Our Way

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/binocular-comet-lovejoy-heading-c2014-q2-lovejoy-1211142/

Use the finder charts in the above online article to locate the comet. It will pass near the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, on Christmas! It passes below Orion in early January.