August 29, 2025: Discover how to see five planets in the pre-dawn sky. Learn when and where to spot Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and faint Neptune with binoculars before morning twilight.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:14 a.m. 8DT; Sunset, 7:29 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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Five Planets Parade
Three bright planets and two dimmer ones are visible before twilight begins for the next several weeks. Begin looking for them about two hours before sunrise. Uranus and Neptune are visible for about 30 minutes before morning twilight outshines them.
Saturn and very faint Neptune lead the planet parade. At this hour, the Ringed Wonder is less than halfway up in the southwestern sky. It is not as bright as the planets and stars in the eastern sky, though it outshines the stars in the region.
Saturn is dimmer than average. Its reflective rings are tilted so that sunlight is reflected away from our view, resulting in a dimmer planet.
Binocular View
Through a binocular, place Saturn at the center of the field of view. It is near Neptune, to its upper right.
Neptune is quite faint. To consider the planet’s brightness, find stars 27 and 29 Piscium (Psc), to Saturn’s lower right. They are 15 times brighter than Neptune. Neptune is a bluish star only 1.5° to Saturn’s upper right near a reddish star with an obscure catalog name that is four times brighter than Neptune.
Slowly look around the field. You may see the planet at the edge of your view, known as averted vision. This may take several mornings to locate Neptune.
Neptune is visible until about September 6th when the bright moon is in the sky. Moonlight, twilight, outdoor light and the clearness of the sky affect the view. The search for Neptune can begin when the moon returns to waning crescent phase over 10 days later.
Uranus with Taurus
Farther eastward, Uranus is high in the east-southeast. It is near the Pleiades star cluster, riding on the back of Taurus in celestial artwork. The stellar bundle, resembling a miniature dipper, is less than 15° above topaz Aldebaran, the Bull’s brightest star.
Binocular View
Uranus is visible as an aquamarine star from the countryside. In suburban areas, use a binocular. Place the star cluster near the top of the field. Uranus is to the lower right. It is about the same brightness as the stars 13, 14, 32 and 37 Tauri (Tau) in the same field. Like Neptune, this planet disappears into morning twilight.
Venus and Jupiter
Brilliant Venus and Jupiter are in the eastern sky. The five planets extend from the Morning Star to Saturn.
As morning twilight progresses, Venus and Jupiter are higher while Saturn is lower in the southwest. By 45 minutes before sunrise, Venus is nearly 20° up in the east, over 17° to Jupiter’s lower left.
Venus steps eastward in front of Cancer, while Jupiter is in front of Gemini, 9.1° to the upper right of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins.
Yesterday, we declared the end of the six-planet parade as Mercury disappeared. It is still above the horizon, but its visibility is affected by the filtering effects of the air near the horizon that blurs and dims celestial bodies. Mercury aficionados can still follow the planet into brighter twilight through binoculars and telescopes.
Evening Moon
After sundown, the crescent moon, 38% illuminated, is less than 15° up in the southwest. It is 10° to the lower left of Zubenelgenubi, the Scorpion’s southern claw, and 9.8° to Pi Scorpii’s (π Sco) lower right.
Saturn and Neptune rise in the east about an hour after sunset, leading the nightly planet parade, whether you see only three of the brighter planets or diligently look for Uranus and Neptune through a binocular
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