2025, April 26: Saturn Emerges from Bright Morning Twilight

April 26, 2025: During the next several mornings watch Saturn emerge from bright morning twilight.  Venus is nearby, while Jupiter and Mars are visible after sundown.

2022, April 3: Venus, Saturn, and Mars are lined up in the eastern sky before sunrise, three days before the Mars – Saturn conjunction.
Photo Caption – 2022, April 3: Venus, Saturn, and Mars are lined up in the eastern sky before sunrise, three days before the Mars – Saturn conjunction.

by Jeffrey L. Hunt

Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:55 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:43 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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Saturn Emerges from Bright Morning Twilight

Venus, Saturn, April 26, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, April 26: Venus and Saturn are in the eastern sky during morning twilight.

Saturn emerges from bright morning twilight in the eastern sky before sunup. 

Step outside at 45 minutes before sunrise.  Find brilliant Venus about 10° above the eastern horizon.  Through a telescope, the Morning Star displays a morning crescent, 25% illuminated.

Saturn is 3.4° to Venus’ lower right and over 6° above the horizon.  Find a clear view looking toward the planet.  Use a binocular to assist with the initial identification.

Each morning Saturn rises two to three minutes earlier compared to sunrise, so that it appears slightly higher in the sky during morning twilight.

Rings Edge On

Saturn's Rings
Photo Caption – Looming like a giant flying saucer in our outer solar system, Saturn puts on a show as the planet and its magnificent ring system nod majestically over the course of its 29-year journey around the Sun. These Hubble Space Telescope images, captured from 1996 to 2000, show Saturn’s rings open up from just past edge-on to nearly fully open as it moves from autumn towards winter in its Northern Hemisphere

Saturn’s brightness is diminished from the low angle the reflective rings make compared to Earth’s line of sight.  About a month ago, Earth passed through the ring plane so that they had an edge-on view, like looking at a dinner plate from the side. Now Saturn’s rings are tilted only a few degrees so that we begin to see the ring’s southern or underside.

Because the icy particles reflect considerable sunlight, like sunshine on a winter’s day after a fresh snowfall, the planet is moderately bright.  Now the sunlight is reflected away from Earth and the Saturn is dimmer than average.

Saturn's orbit
Chart caption – Saturn moves through its orbit.

Saturn revolves around the sun in nearly 30 years and it is tilted nearly 27° compared to its orbit, similar to Earth’s 23.5°.  A cycle of Saturn seasons occurs during its 30-year orbit.  For naerly15 years, sunshine is directed toward the northern hemisphere and then toward the south.

Equating Saturnian seasons to the terrestrial counterparts, the autumn equinox occurs next month.  Then the sun shines more directly on the southern hemisphere.

The rings appear edge on again in late 2038 and the sun begins to shine more directly on the northern hemisphere again in early 2039.

Jupiter after Sunset

Jupiter, April 26, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, April 26: After nightfall, Jupiter is in the western sky below the Bull’s horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri.

Meanwhile, after sunset tonight, Jupiter and Mars are visible.  Jupiter, brighter than all the stars in the sky after sunset, is less than 30° up in the west.  It rambles eastward in front of Taurus, below the Bull’s Horns, 6.1° to Elnath’s lower left, the brighter and northern horn, and 4.9° to Zeta Tauri’s lower right.

Mars between Pollux and Regulus

Mars, April 26, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, April 26: After sunset, Mars is seen against Cancer between Pollux and Regulus.

Mars is to Jupiter’s upper left and high in the southwest.  It marches eastward against Cancer, 11.2° to Pollux’s left, one of the Gemini Twins, and over 25° to the right of Regulus, Leo’s brightest star.

Mars and Beehive through Binocular

Mars, Beehive star cluster through a binocular, April 26, 2025
Chart Caption – 2025, April 26: Through a binocular, Mars is near the Beehive star cluster.

Use a binocular to spot the Beehive star cluster, almost 4° to the left of Mars.  The stellar bundle is visible to the unaided eye in darker locations away from the perpetual glow of outdoor lightings.

Begin looking for four planets during the nighttime hours, Venus and Saturn before sunrise, and Jupiter and Mars after nightfall.

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