December 14, 2023: Brilliant Morning Star Venus nears the Scorpion’s northern claw, Zubenelgenubi. The thin crescent moon cues Mercury’s location in the evening sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:10 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:20 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Summaries of Current Sky Events
Summary for Venus as a Morning Star, 2023-24
Here is today’s planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Brilliant Venus shines from the southeast before sunrise. It rises nearly three hours, thirty minutes before sunrise and about fifteen minutes after Jupiter sets. The Venus-Jupiter opposition occurred four mornings ago and the pair is not easily visible in the sky at the same time until later next year.
This morning, Venus approaches the claws of the Scorpion. At one hour before sunup, the Morning Star is over 20° above the southeast horizon and 4.3° to the upper right of Zubenelgenubi, meaning “the southern claw” of the Scorpion. The northern claw, Zubeneschamali, is over 9° to the upper left of its companion appendage.
Venus passes the southern claw in three mornings. It passes between the claws, a precarious place to be in celestial artwork, the next morning.
Mars is slowly emerging from bright sunlight, rising only thirty-three minutes before the sun.
Evening Sky
This evening is the last call for Mercury for this evening appearance of the speedy planet. The planet’s apparition has suffered from a poorly inclined ecliptic with the western horizon. It is racing back into brighter evening twilight, setting sixty-five minutes after the sun.
This evening the moon reenters the western sky. It is not in the same binocular field with Mercury, but it can assist with the planet’s identification. At sunset, the crescent moon, 5% illuminated, is 10° above the southwest horizon. Mercury is 10.9° to the lower right of the lunar crescent, equating to a binocular field and a half away.
Fifteen minutes later, the moon is 7.5° above the horizon and Mercury is still the same distance from the lunar orb. By forty-five minutes after nightfall, the planet is less than 3° above the horizon and likely lost in the haze that dims and blurs celestial objects, although the moon is over 5° above the horizon. Until Mercury sprints into the eastern morning sky after it overtakes our planet and nears greatest elongation on January 12, 2024, we say, “Goodbye, Mercury!”
Each evening for about the next two weeks, the moon is farther eastward and brighter. The crescent is below the Ringed Wonder in four nights.
By an hour after sunset, two planets, Saturn and Jupiter are easy to spot. Saturn is nearly 35° above the south-southwest horizon. It is slowly trekking eastward in front of Aquarius, 10.1° to the lower right of Lambda Aquarii (λ Aqr on the chart), 9.8° to the upper right of Skat, the Aquarian’s leg, and 8.1° to the upper left of Deneb Algedi, Capricornus’ tail.
Saturn moves to within 5° of Lambda Aquarii before they disappear into western twilight near the mid-point of winter.
Bright Jupiter is nearly 40° above the east-southeast horizon. The Jovian Giant is retrograding in front of Aries, 11.6° to the lower right of Hamal, Aries’ brightest star, and 14.2° to the upper right of Menkar, part of Cetus. Hamal is about the brightness of the Big Dipper’s stars, but a binocular is needed to see Menkar from urban and suburban settings.
Jupiter’s retrograde concludes on the 30th. Then it seems to resume its eastward motion against the background stars. Retrograde motion is an illusion from Earth overtaking and passing between distant planets and the sun. The outer planets seem to stop moving eastward against the stars and move westward for a time, depending on their distance from Earth.
During the night, the planets and stars appear farther westward from Earth’s rotation. Saturn sets toward the west-southwest less than six hours after sundown, while Jupiter is southward an hour earlier. The Jovian Giant sets in the west-northwest before Venus rises tomorrow morning.
RECENT PODCASTS
LATEST ARTICLES
- 2026, April 14: Venus Dominates the Evening Sky with Sirius and Orion
April 14, 2026: Venus shines brightly after sunset while Sirius twinkles in the southwest. Orion stands between them as the spring sky shifts westward each evening. - 2026, April 13: Venus and Jupiter Shine After Sunset While Crescent Moon Appears Before Sunrise
April 13, 2026: Venus dominates the western sky after sunset while Jupiter shines higher in the sky. Before sunrise, find a waning crescent moon with earthshine in the east-southeast. - 2026, April 12-14: Waning Crescent Moon and Earthshine Before Sunrise
April 12-14, 2026: The waning crescent moon appears low in the southeast before sunrise. Watch it pass Deneb Algedi and photograph earthshine during the final mornings before new moon. - 2026, April 11: Spring Evening Sky – Spica, Hydra, Corvus, and Crater After Sunset
April 11, 2026: Two hours after sunset, find Spica low in the southeast with Hydra passing beneath it. Locate Corvus and Crater riding on the Snake’s back in the spring evening sky. - 2026, April 10: Spring Evening Sky – Leo, Cancer, and Hydra the Snake After Sunset
April 10, 2026: Leo stands high in the southern sky while faint Cancer and the Beehive Cluster appear nearby. Below them, Hydra the Snake stretches eastward toward Spica, marked by the solitary glow of Alphard.