January 9, 2024: Before sunrise spot Mercury, Moon, and Venus in the southeastern sky. The Summer Triangle is in the east-northeast.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:18 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:38 p.m. CDT. 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
Mercury, Moon, and Venus
Spot Mercury, Moon and Venus in the southeastern sky before daybreak. At forty-five minutes before the sun rises, brilliant Venus, simply that bright star in the southeast, is over 15° above the horizon. The planet’s altitude – height above the horizon – is noticeably lower each week. Since New Year’s Day, Venus lost nearly twenty minutes of rising time compared to the sun, resulting in a lower altitude each morning during morning twilight.
As the Morning Star appears lower in the sky, it may be necessary to find another location to spot the planet because of nearby visual obstacles. That change of location might be necessary this morning to see the crescent moon, 5% illuminated, less than 5° above the horizon and over 12° to the lower left of Venus. The moon is at the New moon phase in two mornings at 5:57 a.m. CST. This is the last morning to easily see it before it reappears in the evening sky as a razor-thin crescent in three nights.
Look for earthshine, a soft glow of sunlight reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land that lights up the lunar night.
Mercury is 7.7° to the upper left of the lunar crescent and nearly 10° above the horizon. The planet and the lunar orb are too far apart to fit into the same binocular field of view. Either is just outside the field of view that contains the other.
Mercury is making its first morning appearance of the year. The planet reaches its greatest separation from the sun, known as the greatest elongation in three mornings. After Venus, Mercury is the next brightest starlike body in the sky this morning, although its brightness is somewhat muted by twilight’s colors. It is visible without a binocular, but initially finding the planet with the binocular is helpful.
Summer Triangle
In addition to the two bright planets, three bright stars, Vega, Altair, and Deneb, known as the Summer Triangle, are in the east-northeast. The name is given collectively to the three stars because the pattern is in the east-northeast after sunset during early summer.
When the sky darkens tonight, the triangle is in the west-northwest. Because these stars are far northward and the sun is far southward, they can appear in both the morning and evening sky. They rise before sunrise, trek westward during the daytime, and appear in the west-northwest after sunset. The farther north a celestial body, the longer it is in the sky.
This morning, Vega is less than halfway up in the east-northeast. The star, part of Lyra the Lyre, is about 25 light years away and shines with an intensity of nearly 50 suns. It is the third brightest star that is visible from the mid-northern latitudes.
Arcturus, high in the southern sky this morning, is second brightest. From any latitude Sirius is the brightest nighttime star. Now below the horizon, the star appears in the southeastern sky during the early evening hours. It rises at sunset on the 29th.
Altair, part of Aquila the Eagle and over 6° above the east horizon, is the eighth brightest star for mid-northern hemisphere sky watchers. About seventeen light years away, it shines with a brightness of over ten suns.
Deneb, the tail of Cygnus the Swan, is over 20° above the northeast horizon. It is the fourteenth brightest in the mid-northern hemisphere, one of the most brilliant stars in the sun’s extended neighborhood. At a distance of at least 1,400 light years, it blazes with the intensity of 48,000 suns!
This morning, spot Mercury, Moon, and Venus before sunup. Locate the stars of the Summer Triangle this morning and again this evening.
RECENT PODCASTS
LATEST ARTICLES
- 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. - 2026, April 9: Sun, Moon, and Planet Almanac
April 9, 2026: The Last Quarter moon appears before sunrise in front of Sagittarius while Venus and Jupiter dominate the evening sky. Track daylight changes and planetary visibility. - 2026, April 8 -11: Morning Moon and Sagittarius Before Sunrise
A waning gibbous moon moves in front of Sagittarius before sunrise from April 8–11l. See the changing positions each morning. - 2026, April 7: Moon Near Antares Before Sunrise, Venus and Jupiter After Sunset
2026, April 7: A 75% illuminated moon appears near Antares before sunrise. After sunset, Venus and Jupiter shine brightly, with Venus moving toward a conjunction in the evening sky.