2020, November 25: Brilliant Venus in Eastern Sky

November 25, 2020: As Mercury slips back into the sun’s bright glare, Venus continues to shine from the east-southeast during morning twilight.  It is stepping eastward among the stars of Virgo, near the Virgo-Libra border.

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois:  Sunrise, 6:53 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:23 p.m. CST.  Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times for your location.

Venus shines brilliantly about 15° up in the east-southeast about one hour before sunrise.  The planet rises at 4:23 a.m. CST in Chicago (2 hours, 30 minutes before sunrise).  It is rising 2-3 minutes later each morning.  Its altitude (height above the horizon) diminishes noticeably during the next month at one hour before sunrise.  Later next month, we will reduce the observing window to 45 minutes before sunrise as Venus is making a slow slide into the sun’s glare.

This morning Venus is approaching the Virgo – Libra border.  Use a binocular to locate two dimmer stars, Kappa Virginis (κ Vir on the chart) and Lambda Virginis (λ Vir).  Venus is 1.1° to the lower right of κ Vir and 2.6° above λ Vir.  The planet is right of an imaginary line that connects the two stars.

Mercury continues to slip back into the sun’s bright glare.  Look for it about 30 minutes before sunrise.  At this hour, the sky is considerably brighter than the observing window for Venus and the neighboring stars.  A binocular may be needed to locate it less than 5° above the east-southeast horizon.  One more morning and we will say “goodbye” to the planet until it reappears in the evening sky during January, leaving Venus the lone bright planet in the morning sky.

Just last summer, 5 planets were in the morning sky before sunrise.

Detailed note: One hour before sunrise, Venus is nearly 15° up in the east-southeast.  It is 1.1° to the lower right of κ Vir and 2.6° above Lambda Virginis (λ Vir, m = 4.5).  The planet is to the right of a line that connects the two stars. Through a telescope, Venus is 11.9” across and 87% illuminated, a morning gibbous.  Thirty minutes later, Mercury – 15.3° to the lower left of Venus – is nearly 4° above the east-southeast horizon. 

See our summary about Venus during November 2020 and the feature article  about Venus as a Morning Star.

Read more about the planets during November.