2025: The evening sky has pretty celestial events during the year. The four bright planets depart the western evening sky, led by Saturn and followed by Venus, Jupiter, and Mars.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Events are described here relative to sunset. Find sunset times for the year in local media.
2025: The Evening Sky
The four bright planets – Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars depart the evening sky during the year.
The accompanying chart shows the setting time intervals of the bright planets, moon, and stars near the ecliptic. The graph is simply the difference between the setting times of the celestial bodies and sunset.
When the setting curve of a planet crosses another object’s setting line a conjunction occurs near that date. Conjunctions are indicated by a white box on the chart.
The moon’s monthly setting time intervals are indicated with circles. Lunar conjunction dates as well as interesting gatherings of the moon and two other objects are included.
Saturn Departs First
After Venus passes Saturn on January 18th, it brightens spectacularly and then quickly leaves the sky during March, reappearing in the morning sky.
Saturn departs quickly after the Venus conjunction to be met by Mercury as it races into the evening sky. Although a binocular is required, look for the five bright planets after sundown after mid-February.
By July the Ringed Wonder rises in the eastern sky – shown on the “Saturn Rises” curve – at five hours after sundown.
Mercury’s Three Appearances
Mercury makes three appearances in the evening sky and the best occurs during mid-March. A binocular is needed to see the summer appearance, and during the autumn appearance, it sets during brighter twilight.
Jupiter and Taurus
After Jupiter begins to move eastward again, its setting line diverges slowly from Aldebaran, Taurus’ brightest star. It disappears into bright twilight during early June.
Mars Lags Behind
Mars begins its eastward motion again during late February. After it passes Pollux and Castor, it moves through Cancer and toward a conjunction with Regulus, Leo’s brightest star. As the Red Planet moves eastward, it dims as Earth moves away from it.
As it works its way in front of Leo, it sets earlier each evening. By early August it sets as evening twilight ends and Saturn rises at the same time – a Mars-Saturn opposition. Mars disappears into brighter twilight at its conjunction with Spica and then moves toward its solar conjunction early next year.
Saturn reaches opposition, when it rises at sunset during late September.
After Mars departs the western evening sky, the moon passes Antares, Scorpius’ brightest star. During the final two months of the year, the western evening sky does not have any bright stars or planets. Jupiter begins rising in the east five hours after sunset during late October.
Evening Celestial Sampler
Here are some events to see after sundown:
- January 18: A Venus-Saturn conjunction occurs in the southwestern sky after sunset. The separation is 1.8°.
- February 1: See a spectacular Venus-Moon conjunction in the west-southwest. Nearing its greatest brightness, Venus is 2.4° to the crescent moon’s upper right. The lunar orb is only 15% illuminated. Look for earthshine softly lighting the lunar night.
Jupiter with Taurus
- April 1: Capture this scene with a camera. The crescent moon, 18% illuminated, is 1.9° above the Pleiades star cluster, also known as Messier 45 (M45 on the setting chart). Bright Jupiter is 12.7° to the moon’s upper left and 7.9° to Aldebaran’s upper left. The Jovian Giant is in a precarious place between the Bull’s horns in celestial artwork.
- May 15: Over 10° above the west-northwest horizon, bright Jupiter passes between the Bull’s horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri. It is 2.1° to Zeta Tauri’s upper right and 5.8° to Elnath’s lower left.
Moon with the Beehive
- May 30: The crescent moon, 20% illuminated, is in the same binocular field with the Beehive star cluster also known as Messier 44 (M44 on the setting chart). The stars Asellus Borealis, Asellus Australis, Eta Cancri (η Cnc on the chart) and Theta Cancri (θ Cnc) make the Crab’s body. With a longer period of twilight in the northern hemisphere look for this at least 90 minutes after nightfall, but before the moon is too low in the sky. At low altitudes – height above the horizon – the atmosphere’s filtering and blurring effects make a challenging view of the star cluster and surrounding stars.
Moon and Bright Stars
- June 28: An hour after sundown, the crescent moon, 16% illuminated, is about 20° up in the west, 5.7° to Regulus’ lower right. Mars, considerably dimmer than a few months ago, is 12.1° to the crescent moon’s upper left.
- July 30: After sundown, the lunar crescent, 37% illuminated, is nearly 20° up in the west-southwest and 2.6° to Spica’s lower right, Virgo’s brightest star. Spica sets at the end of evening twilight at the end of August and disappears into bright evening twilight. It reappears in the southeastern morning sky during early November.
- September 27: The thick crescent moon, 32% illuminated, is low in the south-southwest, 3.8° to Antares’ left, Scorpius’ brightest star. In about a month, the star sets at the end of evening twilight and slowly disappears into bright evening twilight. It reappears in the southeastern predawn sky at year’s end.
Track the planets, moon, and bright stars in the western sky after nightfall.