April 18, 2025: Three bright planets – Venus, Jupiter, and Mars – are visible each night. Find the gibbous moon before sunrise.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:05 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:35 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
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Venus Summary Article
VENUS AS A MORNING STAR, 2025
Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are visible during the nighttime hours. Mercury and Saturn slowly emerge from bright morning twilight, though they are not visible. The gibbous moon shines from the predawn sky.
Morning Gibbous Moon
An hour before sunrise, the gibbous moon, 76% illuminated, is low in the southern sky, in front of Sagittarius. The lunar orb is 8.2° to the upper left of the Scorpion’s tail and stinger, marked by Shaula and Lesath.
The moon reaches the morning half-full phase, known as Last Quarter on the 20th at 8:36 a.m. Central Time, before it rises in the Americas.
Morning Star, Venus
Farther eastward, brilliant Venus is about 5° above the eastern horizon. Fifteen minutes later, the Morning Star is higher. Find a clear horizon in that direction. The planet is easy to see. Through a telescope it displays a morning crescent phase, 18% illuminated.
This morning Saturn rises over an hour before sunrise, followed by Mercury over 10 minutes later. These two worlds are too low for easy visibility and they are considerably dimmer than Venus.
Jupiter Rambles Eastward
Jupiter and Mars are visible after sundown. An hour after nightfall, bright Jupiter is over 30° up in the west – about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead. The Jovian Giant is brighter than all the stars in the sky this evening.
Jupiter rambles eastward in front of Taurus, 10.1° above Aldebaran, the Bull’s brightest star, and 6.9° to Elnath’s lower left, one of the horns.
Mars with Cancer
Mars, considerably dimmer than Jupiter, is over 40° to the brighter planet’s upper left, high in the southwest. The Red Planet marches eastward in front of Cancer to the left (east) of Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins. It is 7.6° to Pollux’s lower left.
Mars is approaching the Beehive star cluster. The gap is nearly 8°. It moves into the same field with the stellar bundle in a few evenings.
During the night, from Earth’s rotation, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest over four hours after nightfall. Mars sets about three hours after Jupiter and nearly two hours after the moon rises tomorrow morning.
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