Bright morning planets Venus and Jupiter shine during twilight this morning from the Chicago area. Both are visible well into bright predawn skies.
Brilliant Venus appears in the east this morning with a waning crescent moon nearby. Tomorrow the faster moving moon catches and moves past Venus. Look for them in the predawn skies tomorrow morning. Venus is rapidly moving to the east compared to the starry background and before twilight begins can be seen shining against the stars of the constellation Leo.
Click the image to see it larger to observe “earthshine” on the moon. While we see the moon as a thin crescent, an observer on the moon would see a bright gibbous Earth in the sky, almost appearing at a full phase. Sunlight reflected from Earth falls on the night portion of the moon and gently illuminates it.
Meanwhile Jupiter shines in from high in the western sky during morning twilight. The brightest stars, Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Capella can be seen as well.
For our monthly sky watching posting, click here. Watch the planetary pair in the morning sky throughout the next several months. Read more about Venus as a Morning Star. (Click the images to see them larger.)