January 25, 2025: Four bright planets – Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars – are easy to spot after sundown, dimmer Uranus and Neptune are challenging sights. See six planets after sunset.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:09 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:57 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Times of celestial events are described compared to sunrise and sunset. Find those times in local sources.
Morning Moon
With the moon in the morning sky, four bright planets and two dimmer ones are visible along the plane of the solar system after nightfall.
One hour before daybreak, the crescent moon, 17% illuminated, is less than 15° above the south-southeast horizon, 6.8° to Antares’ lower left, Scorpius’ brightest star. The moon is in front of Ophiuchus this morning.
Look for earthshine on the moon’s night portion. This soft light is reflected sunlight from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land. It can be photographed with a tripod-mounted or hand-held camera, if held steadily, with exposures up to a few seconds.
Morning Mars
At this hour, Mars, the eastern planet in the nightly display is low in the west-northwest, below Pollux – a Gemini Twin – after its all-night westward trek. Within a week, it is not visible at this hour as it sets earlier each morning.
See Six Planets after Sunset
The planet display begins each evening after nightfall. The brilliant planet Venus begins the show when it appears as early as 30 minutes after sundown. On exceptionally clear days, the planet is visible during the daytime. On February 1st, the moon is nearby, making a Venus daylight observation easier.
Venus is brighter than all the celestial bodies in the sky this evening. Its brilliance competes with bright airplane lights.
Saturn first appears about 45 minutes after nightfall around mid-twilight. Considerably dimmer than Venus, the Ringed Wonder is 6.4° below the Evening Star.
Venus sets about four hours after sundown, 30 minutes after Saturn.
Bright Jupiter with Taurus
Farther eastward, bright Jupiter – the second brightest celestial body tonight – is high in the east-southeast, 5.1° to Aldebaran’s upper left, Taurus’ brightest star. The Jovian Giant is nearing the end of its retrograde, the illusion that the planet moves westward against the starry background.
The Jovian Giant appears to move westward during the night, setting in the western sky after midnight a few hours before sunrise tomorrow.
Use a binocular to peek at the Hyades star cluster, together with Aldebaran outlines the Bull’s head, and the Pleiades star cluster, a smattering of dimmer stars resembling a miniature dipper.
Mars with Gemini
At this hour, Mars is less than one-third of the way from the east-northeast horizon to overhead. It retrogrades in front of Gemini, 2.6° to Pollux’s right. Mars’ westward march continues for about another month and its nightly place in front of the stars is easily observed.
Like Jupiter, Mars appears farther westward from Earth’s rotation. It is in the west-northwest during morning twilight again tomorrow.
The four bright planets, from Saturn to Mars span is over 125°. They are along the plane of the solar system, known as the ecliptic. The background stars are known as the zodiac – the circle of animals.
Neptune a Visual Challenge
As for planets Uranus and Neptune, the sky needs to be darker, but do not wait too long because Neptune is too low in the west-southwest and then setting. Uranus is easier to see.
Dim Neptune, the most challenging view to see this evening, is in the same binocular field with Venus. The planet is quite dim and blends with an unremarkable starfield. At two hours after sunset, place Venus toward the lower right edge of the field of view. Identify, the stars 20 Piscium (20 Psc on the chart) and 24 Piscium (24 Psc) toward the left edge of the field.
Neptune is about 1° to the upper right of 24 Piscium and 1.3° to 20 Piscium’s upper left. The planet is dimmer than the two stars and bluish in color. Make multiple attempts to see the planet during the next few evenings.
On February 1st, when the crescent moon returns to the evening sky with Venus, the lunar orb is 1.5° to Neptune’s upper right.
After February 2nd, the moon’s light washes over the sky and masks our view of Neptune and the dimmer stars. This continues in the viewing window of two hours after sundown. Once the moon is out of the way on Valentine’s Day night, Neptune is too low to see from the air’s blurring and dimming effects. The hope to see all the planets simultaneously after sundown during late February is partly dashed by dim Neptune and that Mercury and Saturn are visible only through a binocular.
Planet Uranus near Pleiades
Uranus, near Taurus’ Pleiades star cluster, is easier to see than Neptune. Away from outdoor lighting in a very dark location, this planet is visible without optical assistance. In a suburban backyard, a binocular is needed. First inspect the Pleiades star cluster. Then slightly move the binocular to the lower right so that the stellar bundle is to the upper left edge of the field and identify stars 13 Tauri (13 Tau on the chart) and 14 Tauri (14 Tau). Next continue moving the binocular slightly so that Tau Arietis (τ Ari), 63 Arietis (63 Ari), and 64 Arietis (64 Ari) enter the field to the upper right. Then Uranus is to the lower right edge of the field. The planet appears as a aquamarine star through the binocular. Like Neptune, look for planet Uranus each clear evening through early February, until moonlight overwhelms the view.
Six planets are visible along the ecliptic, four are quite easy to locate. Look for them each clear evening during the next few weeks.
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Looking at a clear sky with naked eye in Litherland Liverpool it’s a beautiful sight wish I had binoculars
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