August 24, 2025: Before sunrise, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury form a bright planetary trio in the eastern sky, joined by Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune for a six-planet morning view.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:09 a.m. 8DT; Sunset, 7:37 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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Venus Summary Article
Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury before Sunrise
Three bright planets — Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury — shine in the eastern sky before sunrise.
Venus, the brilliant Morning Star, has dominated the morning sky for weeks, moving past bright stars and planets. The Venus–Jupiter conjunction occurred on the 12th. This morning, they are 12.0° apart, with Venus positioned less than halfway from Jupiter to Mercury, which is over 15° to Venus’ lower left.
Venus steps eastward in front of Cancer, 8.5° to the lower right of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins. The planet is nearly aligned with an imaginary line from Castor, the other Twin, through Pollux. From the Americas, Venus is slightly west of this line today and east of it tomorrow.
Mercury is low in the east-northeast, about 7° above the horizon. It is bright but dimmed by the thick atmosphere near the horizon. The speedy planet is retreating into brighter twilight and is visible for only the next three or four mornings.
Saturn in Southwest
This morning’s bright planet triad is part of a six-planet display. Saturn is over 30° above the southwest horizon, about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead. Two dim outer worlds are visible before morning twilight begins — Uranus in the same binocular field as the Pleiades star cluster, and Neptune, a very challenging target, near Saturn.
Watch for the six planets during the next few mornings. After Mercury departs, five remain visible in the morning sky for several weeks.
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