January 21, 2025: Each evening, follow the nightly planet display that includes Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the moon.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:12 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:52 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Daylight has increased to 9 hours, 40 minutes at Chicago’s latitude. The length increases about two minutes each day through month’s end.
Four bright planets are easily visible after sundown, along with the dimmer Uranus and Neptune, which can be spotted using a binocular. During night hours, they parade westward with the moon appearing after midnight.
Morning Sky
Before sunrise, the slightly gibbous moon, 53% illuminated, is in the south-southwest, 4.1° to Spica’s lower left, Virgo’s brightest star. The lunar orb is at the morning half-full phase known as Last Quarter at 2:31 p.m. Central Time, after it sets in the Americas.
Mars, the lone bright planet visible before sunrise, is over 10° above the west-northwest horizon, to the lower left of Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins. During the night, the planet moves westward and appears in this morning position during dawn’s early light.
Even at this low altitude – height above the horizon – Mars outshines all other starlike bodies in the sky this morning.
Mercury is not visible. It makes its way toward its solar conjunction on February 9th, moving toward an appearance in the western evening sky.
Nightly Planet Display
The planet display is visible each night after sunset. Venus gleams from the southwestern sky. It is visible immediately after the sun drops below the horizon, and on occasions it can be seen during the daytime.
An hour after sundown, the Evening Star is 30° above the southwest horizon. That altitude is one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead. It outshines all other starlike bodies in the sky tonight. It is nearly 200 times brighter than Saturn, 3.5° to Venus’ lower left. Venus is nearly six times brighter than Jupiter and about 20 times brighter than Sirius, the night’s brightest star, and Mars. Sirius is above the east-southeast horizon at this hour, likely twinkling wildly from air currents that break the light into its component colors.
Venus appears to be passing Saturn. The Evening Star’s eastward pace is faster than the Ringed Wonder’s slowly plodding eastward. While they look close together in the sky, they are over 900 million miles apart in space.
Venus is overtaking Earth, passing between our home planet and the sun during March. It then moves into the morning sky.
Through a telescope tonight, Venus shows a thick evening crescent phase, 45% illuminated. The planet is brightest in the sky on February 14th. Formerly known as the greatest brilliance, this event takes the name of “greatest illuminated extent.”
As Venus overtakes our planet, its phase thins. For Venus waxing and waning are not used because the planet resembles a lunar waxing crescent phase as it thins. To distinguish between lunar and Venusian phases, Venus’ phases are described as morning phase or evening phase, such as tonight’s evening crescent phase.
At the greatest illuminated extent, the planet’s crescent phase is only 27% illuminated, yet it covers that largest area of the sky. This counters what we see with the moon. The Full moon phase covers a larger area than the illuminated waxing or waning lunar crescent. For Venus, the full phase occurs when the planet is on the far side of the sun and it appears smallest from Earth.
Jupiter with Taurus
Tonight, after sunset in the nightly planet display, bright Jupiter is over halfway up in the east-southeast. It retrogrades in front of Taurus, 5.1° to Aldebaran’s upper left, Taurus’ brightest star. The illusion of retrograde concludes early next month.
Use a binocular to spot Jupiter, Aldebaran, the Hyades star cluster. The bright star and the star cluster outline a sideways letter “V” that represents the Bull’s head. The Pleiades star cluster, above Aldebaran, is another pretty target through a binocular.
Mars
At this hour, Mars, the fourth bright planet in the nightly planet display, is about 20° above the east-northeast horizon. It retrogrades against Gemini’s distant stars. Watch it move westward past the Twins for the remainder of this month. Use a binocular to spot Kappa Geminorum (κ Gem on the chart) to Mars’ lower right. The Red Planet seems to pass between this star and Pollux tonight.
The four bright planets span over 127° tonight. The gap shrinks to another 10° until Mars’ retrograde ends later next month, although Saturn is slipping into bright evening twilight.
During the night, as Earth rotates, Venus and Saturn set four hours after nightfall. Jupiter appears farther westward, setting about 3.5 hours before sunrise. Mars appears in the south before midnight and again in the west-northwest tomorrow morning.
Later tonight, compare Sirius and Mars. Notice that Sirius is distinctly blue-white while Mars is noticeably red-orange. Through a light meter, they are about the same brightness, but because the eye perceives blue stars brighter than red, Sirius seems brighter than Mars. Compare them in the night sky.
Tomorrow’s moon is farther east of this morning’s place near Spica, nearing Zubenelgenubi, the Scorpion’s southern claw.
Follow the nightly planet display for the next few weeks.
RECENT PODCASTS
LATEST ARTICLES
- 2026, June 9-13: Waning Crescent Moon Passes Saturn and Mars Before Sunrise
June 9-13, 2026: See the waning crescent moon with Saturn and Mars before sunrise during mid-June. Learn where to look for earthshine, Saturn’s rings, Mars, and the Pleiades in the eastern sky. - 2026, June 9: Venus-Jupiter Conjunction Occurs in the West-Northwest with Mercury Nearby
June 9, 2026: See Venus and Jupiter in a close evening conjunction after sunset with Mercury lower in the west-northwest sky. Includes observing tips and future conjunction dates. - 2026, June 8: Venus Threads Between Jupiter and Pollux Before Brilliant Evening Conjunction
June 8, 2026: See Venus and Jupiter only 2 degrees apart after sunset with Mercury nearby in Gemini. Find the bright planets and moon before sunrise with Saturn and Mars. - 2026, June 7: Venus Closes in on Jupiter Before June 9 Conjunction
June 7, 2026: Venus moves within 2.3° of Jupiter after sunset while Mercury joins the evening sky lineup low in the west-northwest before the June 9 conjunction. - 2026, June 6: Venus Nears Jupiter Before Their Evening Conjunction
June 6, 2026: Venus closes to within 3.1° of Jupiter after sunset while Mercury joins the evening planet lineup low in the west-northwest sky.