After a few cloudy mornings, bright Morning Stars Venus and Jupiter are again visible this morning in the predawn skies in this 30-second image made at 4:05 a.m. CDT from the Chicago area. Brilliant Venus is rapidly moving to the east. Compare its position to the stars from just 5 days ago. The moon is no longer in the picture as it is at its new moon phase. It will return to this part of the sky later next month.
Planet Jupiter is near Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, and the Hyades star cluster. Notice its slower eastward movement compared to the stars from the August 12 image linked above. The Pleiades star cluster is seen higher in the sky.
Orion and its bright star Betelgeuse are visible higher in the sky at this time to the right of Venus along the horizon.
Watch the planetary pair in the morning sky throughout this month. Read more about Venus as a Morning Star. For our monthly sky watching posting, click here. (Click the image to see it larger.)