August 22, 2025: Six planets line up before sunrise. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible without optical aid, while Uranus and Neptune require a binocular during a narrow viewing window.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:07 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:40 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 Planet Parade
Six planets stretch across the eastern sky before sunrise. To see all of them, including the solar system’s most distant worlds, use a binocular. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible to the unaided eye, while Uranus and Neptune are dim and need optical assistance.
Each night, the parade begins when Saturn and Neptune rise into the eastern sky about 75 minutes after nightfall. By nearly two hours later, they are nearly 20° above the east-southeastern horizon, although Neptune remains too low for easy identification.
As the night progresses, Uranus – near the Pleiades star cluster – climbs into the east-northeastern sky, while Saturn and Neptune continue to rise.
Saturn and Neptune
The best viewing window opens about two hours before sunrise. Brilliant Venus stands low in the east-northeast, with Jupiter to its upper right. Saturn and Neptune are over halfway up in the west-southwest. Uranus is higher in the east-southeast, near the Pleiades and in front of Taurus, with Aldebaran nearby. Orion is below the Bull.
Binocular View
To find Neptune, center Saturn in a binocular. The outermost planet appears as a faint bluish star to Saturn’s upper right. It is dimmer than stars 27 and 29 Piscium (Psc) and nearly aligns with a faint reddish star above Saturn. Locating Neptune may take several mornings of effort. The window to see all six planets is closing, although five remain visible for several more weeks.
Uranus near Pleiades
Look for Uranus, farther eastward with the Pleiades star cluster.
For Uranus, place the Pleiades near the upper left edge of the binocular field. Aquamarine Uranus is to the lower right. Its brightness is comparable to 13, 14, 32, and 37 Tauri (Tau). From a remote location without outdoor lighting, Uranus is visible without optical aid. It is easily seen through a binocular from suburban areas.
Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter in Eastern Sky
Morning twilight begins about 100 minutes before sunrise, gradually overwhelming the dimmer worlds. Mercury rises in the east-northeast about 10 minutes after twilight begins, but it is too low to be seen while Neptune is still visible. An hour before sunrise, Mercury is 5° up, with Venus and Jupiter to the upper right. At this point, Neptune is lost in twilight, and Uranus is barely visible, even through a binocular.
By 45 minutes before sunrise, Mercury is nearly 10° above the horizon, with Venus 15° to its upper right and Jupiter 10.0° farther beyond. Saturn is low in the southwest. The visible planets span over 130° across the sky. By this time, Neptune and Uranus are washed out. Follow Mercury as it climbs into the brightening twilight.
This morning, Mercury is the fourth-brightest starlike object in the sky after Venus, Jupiter, and Sirius. Its light is dimmed slightly by the thick air near the horizon and the colorful hues of twilight. The moon is not part of this morning’s parade, nearing its New Moon phase and absent from view.
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