August 30, 2025: Find the bright planets and stars in the eastern sky before sunrise. Evening Moon is with Scorpius, near Antares.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:15 a.m. 8DT; Sunset, 7:27 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 Planets and Stars
Two planets and several bright stars decorate the predawn eastern sky. Step outside and look eastward during mid-twilight, about 45 minutes before sunrise. Brilliant Venus is about 20° above the horizon, about one-fourth of the way from the horizon to overhead.
Venus steps eastward in front of Cancer’s dim stars. It is nearly 15° below Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Twins.
Bright Jupiter is over 18° to Venus’ upper left and to the right of the Twins.
Venus passed slow-moving Jupiter on August 12th and widens the gap to the Jovian Giant each morning.
This morning, notice that Venus, Jupiter, and Procyon, the Little Dog Star, nearly make an equilateral triangle.
Bright Sirius is less than 15° up in the southeast and almost 45° to Venus’ lower right. The night’s brightest star is likely twinkling wildly. Use a binocular to watch the atmosphere break the starlight into its component colors so that the star appears blue, yellow, and orange in a changing sequence.
Next month Venus and Sirus are about the same altitude – height above the horizon – in the eastern sky during morning twilight. The brightest planet and the brightest star shine before sunrise, but they are far apart in the sky.
Sirius is nearly 40° below the ecliptic – the solar system’s plane – so no bright solar system body ever appears near it.
Venus and Sirius
Compare the brightness of Venus and Sirius. While Sirius is the night’s brightest star, it is only 10% of Venus’ brightness. Of course, Venus is closer and shines by reflected sunlight. Sirius is a star that is nearly 570,000 times farther away than the closest planet to Earth.
In the northern hemisphere, Orion is one of the most-recognized star patterns after the Big Dipper. The Hunter, with its bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel are above Sirius and less than halfway to overhead in the southeast. The stars’ contrasting star colors are amplified through a binocular. Betelgeuse, frequently in the news about going supernova, is nearly 50 times Sirius’ distance, while Rigel is almost double the Dog Star’s separation from the sun.
After Sirius, Rigel is the fifth brightest star seen at the mid-northern latitudes, followed by Procyon and Betelgeuse as sixth and seventh, respectively.
Saturn
This morning Saturn is in the west-southwest, about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead.
Top Ten This Morning
Other bright stars and planets are visible this morning. Here is a list of the 10 brightest celestial bodies visible during mid-twilight.
| Star/Planet | Location |
| 1. Venus | East |
| 2. Jupiter | East to Venus upper right near Twins |
| 3. Sirius | Low in Southeast |
| 4. Vega | Near horizon in northwest |
| 5. Capella | High in East- above Twins |
| 6. Rigel | Southeast, about 30° altitude |
| 7. Procyon | About 20° up in east-southeast |
| 8. Betelgeuse | Less than halfway up in the southeast – above Sirius |
| 9. Saturn | Less than halfway up in southwest |
| 10. Aldebaran | High in southeast, above Orion |
After sunset, the moon, nearly at the half-full or First Quarter phase, is over 15° above the south-southwest horizon. With the Scorpion, it is 2.2° to the lower left of Pi Scorpii (π Sco) and 4.9° to the lower right of Antares, the constellation’s brightest star.
Mars lingers in the western sky as it approaches Spica, though its brightness fades as it continues to slide into brighter evening twilight. It is visible through a binocular, or called a binocular object in sky watching vernacular, over 5° above the west-southwest horizon.
Evening Saturn
Saturn crosses the eastern horizon less than an hour after sunset. An hour later, it is over 10° above the east-southeast horizon.
This display of bright stars and planets continues each morning for the next several weeks. The bright stars are higher in the eastern sky while the Venus-Jupiter gap widens. Take a look eastward during the next several days to see the collection of bright planets and stars.
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