August 9, 2025: The Sturgeon Moon dims the Perseids as Sirius makes its first morning appearance. Venus closes in on Jupiter for a brilliant pairing in the eastern sky, while Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus fill the predawn panorama.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:53 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:59 p.m. CDT. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
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Morning Sturgeon Moon
After its all-night westward journey, the Sturgeon Moon is low in the southwest. It is in front of Capricornus, 6.6° to the lower right of Deneb Algedi – the kid’s tail. Use a binocular.
Moonlight Dims Perseid Meteors
This moonlight dims the prospects for this year’s Perseid meteor shower that peaks on the morning of the 12th across the Americas. Before twilight begins about two hours before sunrise, 10-15 bright meteors are visible each hour in this moonlight from suburban areas. While Perseids can be seen anywhere in the sky, most are visible high in the east-northeastern sky, where the shower appears to originate.
Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish, is less than 15° above the south-southwest horizon and nearly 25° to the lunar orb’s upper left. This star is the 13th brightest star observed at the mid-northern latitudes.
Sirius at First Appearance across Mid-Northern Latitudes
Sirius is making its first morning appearance or heliacal rising at the mid-northern latitudes. Look for it about 45 minutes before sunrise in the east-southeast.
Morning View of Saturn
Moving eastward, Saturn is about halfway up in the south-southwest, nearly 45° to the moon’s upper left. It retrogrades in front of Pisces. The planet is above the stars Deneb Kaitos and Fomalhaut.
Neptune is in the same binocular field with Saturn. The dim planet is even more difficult to see with the Full moon’s light this morning. The planet search can begin again when the moon displays a crescent phase in over a week.
Farther eastward, Uranus is in the same field of view with the Pleiades star cluster. While not as dim as Neptune, Uranus can be seen from suburban backyards through the binocular. Like Neptune, wait for the moon to return to a crescent phase before looking for it.
Venus-Jupiter Morning Show
This morning’s show, the Venus-Jupiter conjunction, peaks in three mornings when the Morning Star passes 0.9° to the Jovian Giant’s lower right. The two brightest planets, also the third and fourth brightest celestial bodies, are within two full-moon diameters. In space they are nearly 440 million miles apart, almost five times Earth’s distance from the sun.
Venus-Jupiter conjunctions occur nearly every calendar year, though some are seen near the sun. The next one occurs on June 6, 2026, when the two planets are 1.6° apart in the west-northwest after sundown.
Six-Planet Display Awaits Mercury and a Dimmer Moon
Mercury is quickly moving into the morning sky, for a display of six of the seven major planets. This occurs after mid-month, when the moon dims enough to see Neptune and Uranus. Then the sky is darker, though Mercury does not appear until the brighter phases of morning’s light washes out the two dim planets.
Mars after Sunset
Mars is in the western sky after sunset. It is dim because it is far from Earth and further affected by the blurring and dimming effects of our atmosphere. Use a binocular to see it. It is nearly 9° to Porrima’s lower right, also known as Gamma Virginis and over 20° to Spica’s lower right, Virgo’s brightest star.
Saturn and Moon before Midnight
At this time, the moon is just above the east-southeast horizon. Less than 24 hours after the full-moon phase, the lunar orb still looks completely illuminated.
Saturn rises a few minutes before Mars sets around two hours after nightfall. An hour later, the bright moon is in the southeast, while Saturn is over 10° up in the east-southeast, over 30° to the lunar orb’s lower left.
By tomorrow morning, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the bright moon are in the sky again. Watch Venus move closer to Jupiter as the moon nears Saturn.
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