January 17, 2025: The Venus-Saturn conjunction occurs tomorrow evening. The planetary pair leads the western march of a nightly planet parade.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:15 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:48 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Four bright planets and the moon are visible during the nighttime hours.
Morning Moon, Mars
An hour before sunrise, the gibbous moon, is over 30° above the west-southwest horizon, 9.7° to Regulus’ upper left.
After Mars’ all-night westward passage, from Earth’s rotation, the Red Planet is nearly 15° above the west-northwest horizon and to the left of Pollux and Castor, the Gemini Twins.
Mercury is still west of the sun, technically a morning planet, but it is challenging to see during bright morning twilight. It rises 48 minutes before daybreak. The speedy world is revolving toward a superior conjunction – on the sun’s far side – next month.
Venus-Saturn Conjunction Imminent
One night before their conjunction, brilliant Venus and Saturn are in the southwestern sky after nightfall. Venus is easily visible during bright twilight, but Saturn does not appear until the sky darkens. By an hour after sundown, the pair is nearly 30° above the southwest horizon, with the Evening Star 2.3° to the right of the Ringed Wonder. Tomorrow’s separation is 2.2°.
While the planets are close together in the sky, they are nearly 900 million miles apart in space. Venus revolves around the sun every 584 days, while Saturn’s year is nearly 30 Earth years.
These planets set about four hours after sundown.
Bright Jupiter in East-Southeast
When Venus and Saturn are visible after sunset, bright Jupiter, over halfway up in the east-southeast, retrogrades in front of Taurus, 5.2° to Aldebaran’s upper left, the Bull’s brightest star.
Mars with Twins
Farther eastward, reddish Mars is over 15° above the east-northeast horizon. It is 3.0° to Pollux’s lower left. It is east of an imaginary line that begins at Castor and extends through Pollux. Last night, Mars crossed that line as it retrogrades and appears farther westward compared to the Twins.
Gibbous Moon Rises Later
The gibbous moon, 82% illuminated, rises nearly five hours after sunset. An hour later the lunar orb is nearly 20° above the eastern horizon. It is moving eastward in front of Leo, nearly 20° to Regulus’ lower left, the Lion’s brightest star, and 11.9° to the right of Denebola, the tail.
At this hour, Jupiter is over halfway up in the west-southwest, while Mars is high in the southeastern sky.
Tomorrow, the Venus-Saturn conjunction occurs in the southwest after sundown.
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