October 1, 2025: On October 1, 2025, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn stretch across the morning sky, though Saturn and Neptune are fading into the horizon’s thicker atmosphere. The evening gibbous moon shines ahead of the Harvest Moon on October 6.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:48 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:32 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
Morning Planets
The morning display of Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn is breaking up. Saturn and Neptune are difficult to see as they sink into the thick, dimming air near the horizon when Venus is visible in the eastern sky.
This morning, the five planets stretch across nearly 167°, although the western pair is a difficult view. The parade ends on October 17 when Saturn sets as Venus rises — a Venus–Saturn opposition.
Saturn
At 90 minutes before sunrise, Saturn is only 5° up in the west. Neptune is nearby but nearly impossible to see. Over the next few mornings, the display fragments. Before Venus rises, the group is Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn. After Venus appears, the Morning Star is part of a smaller group with Jupiter and Uranus.
With the moon edging closer to Saturn and Neptune each night, Neptune becomes easier to spot after moonset around midnight. With Saturn centered in a binocular field, Neptune is to the upper left.
Venus
At the beginning of morning twilight, about 90 minutes before sunrise, Venus is low in the east, below Regulus and the Sickle of Leo.
As twilight brightens, the Morning Star climbs higher into the eastern sky.
Jupiter
Jupiter is well up in the southeast with Gemini, 6.7° to Pollux’s lower right.
Uranus
Uranus, visible without optical aid from dark locations, is high in the southwest near the Pleiades star cluster, which rides on Taurus’ back.
Through a binocular, Uranus shows as an aquamarine “star,” similar in brightness to 13, 14, 32, and 37 Tauri (Tau).
After Sunset
After sunset, the gibbous moon, 70% illuminated, is low in the south-southeast, over 20° to the right of Deneb Algedi, Capricornus’ tail. Its light brightens the landscape and casts shadows. The Harvest Moon occurs on October 6.
Saturn, with Neptune, is farther eastward, nearly 15° up in the east-southeast
Mercury and Mars are not visible, lost in the western evening twilight.
The morning planet parade is dissolving as Venus widens its gap from Saturn. Meanwhile, the evening gibbous moon approaches the Harvest Moon, the first Full Moon of autumn.
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