September 6, 2025: See Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn before sunrise while Uranus and Neptune fade in the moon’s glare. The five-planet display resumes when the moon wanes later this month.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:22 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:15 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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Moon Interferes with Views of Uranus and Neptune
After this morning, views of the dimmer planets—Uranus and Neptune—pause until the moon wanes to a thin crescent. The Full Moon occurs tomorrow at 1:09 p.m. Central Time. This month’s seasonal Full Moon is known as the Corn Moon.
At Full phase, the moon shines all night. As it slides eastward and begins to wane, it passes Saturn and Neptune on its way toward Uranus. Bright moonlight interferes with the view of dim celestial wonders until the lunar orb thins to a crescent near the bright planets in the eastern sky.
Morning Sky
This morning from the Americas, the bright moon is low in the west-southwest two hours before sunrise. By the beginning of morning twilight, about 30 minutes later, the moon sets, providing a brief observing window to see Uranus and Neptune.
- Center Saturn, about one-third of the way from the southwest horizon to overhead, in a binocular’s field. Faint Neptune, a bluish star, is above Saturn.
- Uranus, beginning its retrograde, shares a binocular field with the Pleiades star cluster, high in the eastern sky. It shines about the same brightness as nearby stars.
- Venus is low in the east-northeast with Jupiter to its upper right. All five planets are visible.
As twilight brightens, Uranus and Neptune fade from view.
Views During Mid-Twilight
At 45 minutes before sunrise:
- Saturn is in the west-southwest.
- Brilliant Venus, stepping eastward in front of Cancer, is less than 20° above the east horizon.
- Jupiter, the second-brightest starlike object this morning, is over 25° to Venus’ upper right, in front of Gemini and 8.2° to the right of Pollux.
- Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn span nearly 135° along the ecliptic.
- Sirius, about 45° to Venus’ right, gleams at the same altitude above the horizon. For the next few mornings, enjoy this striking view of the brightest star of winter evenings and the brightest planet, before Venus sinks toward brighter twilight and Sirius climbs higher.
- Mercury remains hidden in brighter morning twilight.
Evening sky:
- Mars is lost in bright western twilight.
- The nearly Full Moon, 99% illuminated, begins its approach toward Saturn and Neptune. Two hours after nightfall, it is over 20° high in the southeast, nearly the same distance to Saturn’s upper right. The Ringed Wonder is about 15° above the east-southeast horizon.
Total Lunar Eclipse
Tomorrow a total lunar eclipse occurs across the Indian Ocean Basin and much of the eastern hemisphere. Totality lasts from 17:30 UTC to 18:53 UTC, with greatest eclipse at 18:11 UTC when the moon passes near the middle of Earth’s shadow. The event is visible from all locations where the moon is above the horizon, and no special equipment is required to enjoy it.
After this morning, the five-planet display reduces temporarily to three, as the bright moon dominates the sky until mid-month.
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