August 28, 2025: Mercury retreats into morning twilight. After this morning five planets remain. Evening Moon near Scorpion’s Claw.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:13 a.m. 8DT; Sunset, 7:30 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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Mercury Departs Morning Sky
This is the final morning of the six-planet parade. Mercury is retreating into brighter twilight. Mercury aficionados can find the planet in brighter morning light through a telescope for several more days. After this morning, Goodbye, Mercury!
Find Neptune before Twilight Begins
Begin looking for the planets about two hours before sunrise, before morning twilight gently lights up the eastern sky. Uranus and Neptune are not very bright and a binocular is needed to see them, though sky watchers in the countryside can see Uranus without optical assistance.
At this hour, Saturn is in the southwestern sky. Though not as bright as Venus and Jupiter, it is the brightest starlike body in the region, less than halfway from the horizon to overhead. The Ringed Wonder is 1.6° to Neptune’s lower left.
Through the binocular, place Saturn at the center of the field of view. The stars 27 and 29 Piscium (Psc), to Saturn’s lower right are 15 times brighter than Neptune. The solar system’s most-distant planet is to Saturn’s upper right and near a reddish star with a non-descript catalog number, which is still four times brighter than the planet. This is not an easy find.
Uranus near Pleiades
Farther eastward at this hour, Uranus is near the Pleiades star cluster, which rides on Taurus’ back in celestial artwork. First locate Orion in the east-southeast. The Bull’s brightest star, Aldebaran, is above the Hunter. The star cluster is less than 15° above that star.
Through the binocular, place the Pleiades at the top of the field of view. Aquamarine Uranus is to the lower right. It is about the same brightness as stars 13, 14, 32, and 37 Tauri (Tau) near the planet in the field.
Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in a Line
At this hour, Venus and Jupiter are visible, though the Morning Star is low in the east-northeast. As twilight grows, the great wheel of the sky seems to spin westward. Mercury rises nearly 80 minutes before the sun. Thirty-five minutes later, it is about 5° above the east-northeast horizon. It is bright, though muted by the thick air near the horizon and the pretty colors of morning twilight.
At this hour, brilliant Venus stands about 20° up in the eastern sky, 16.1° to Jupiter’s lower left. It is 11.8° below Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins. Venus is almost midway from Jupiter to Mercury. The triad spans over 33°. The Mercury to Saturn gap is 140°.
With Mercury departing, the remaining five planets are visible simultaneously after Venus rises nearly three hours before sunrise. As described for this morning, the view is prime around two hours before daybreak, when the sky is still dark enough to spot Neptune and Uranus through a binocular, making all five planets visible simultaneously.
Crescent Moon after Sunset
After sundown, the crescent Moon, 30% illuminated, is less than 15° up in the southwest. It is less than 20° to the upper left of Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, and 6.7° to the lower right of Zubenelgenubi, the Scorpion’s southern claw, today part of Libra.
Use a binocular to find Mars, over 7° up in the west-southwest and over 10° to Spica’s lower right. Trace an imaginary line from the moon through Spica and Mars to the western horizon. This is the approximate location of the plane of the solar system, making a shallow angle with the western horizon during evening hours at this season.
Saturn Appears during Early Evening
Heading toward opposition next month, Saturn and Neptune cross the eastern horizon less than an hour after sundown, appearing toward the southwest again tomorrow morning. They are now leading a morning five-planet parade.
2025, August 28: The crescent moon and Spica are in the southwestern sky after sundown. Find Mars through a binocular.
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