Morning Planets Venus and Jupiter gleam in clear skies today as seen from the Chicago area. Both can be seen into bright morning twilight.
Brilliant Venus shines from the eastern sky in front of the starry background of the constellation Leo. It is rapidly moving eastward compared to that background. On October 22, Venus passes 11 degrees below Denebola, the lion’s tail. In the image above (click it to make it larger), Venus is shown in the eastern sky with Regulus and Denebola.
Bright Jupiter gleams from the starry background of Taurus high in the southern sky nearly 90 degrees to the upper right of Venus, as shown in the image above. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation. Two bright star clusters (the Pleiades and the Hyades) are easily visible. The bull’s horns, Zeta Tauri and Elnath, are visible.
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.)