October 8, 2025: The sky offers the Harvest Moon, bright Venus nears Virgo, Jupiter near Pollux, and Saturn lingering in Pisces. Mercury and Mars are lost in twilight while Uranus and Neptune wait for darker skies.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:56 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:20 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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Sky Watching Almanac
Here is the sky watcher’s almanac for October 8, 2025:
Sun: At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 11 hours, 24 minutes. The sun is 6° south of the celestial equator and stands overhead at noon for locations along the same latitude south of Earth’s equator.
Moon: The bright moon continues to dominate the night, washing out dimmer celestial wonders. Before sunrise, it is in the western sky, about 30° up an hour before sunup.
After nightfall, the Harvest Moon provides continued moonlight. At the end of evening twilight, it is in the east-northeast, below Hamal, Aries’ brightest star. Use a binocular to see the star near the moon.
Inner Planets
Mercury: Emerging from bright evening twilight, Mercury sets only 36 minutes after sunset. This appearance is very unfavorable for northern hemisphere sky watchers.
Venus: The Morning Star shines brightly in the eastern sky. Tomorrow morning it steps in front of Virgo. This morning it is 4.3° to the upper right of Zavijava (Beta Virginis). Use a binocular to spot the star. Now rising less than three hours before daybreak, Venus is over 10° above the eastern horizon. Through a telescope, the planet shows a morning gibbous phase, 92% illuminated.
Outer Planets
Mars: The Red Planet is faint as it slides deeper into evening twilight, setting about an hour after sunset.
Jupiter: The Jovian Giant, the second brightest starlike body this morning, is high in the east-southeast during twilight. It is near Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins, moving eastward. Jupiter passes Pollux in two mornings, the first of three conjunctions with the star during this appearance.
Now rising around midnight in the eastern regions of time zones, or an hour later farther west, Jupiter is easily spotted in the eastern sky.
Saturn: The Ringed Wonder is in the east-southeast as darkness falls. Nearly three weeks past opposition, Saturn is still visible nearly all night, setting tomorrow morning about 90 minutes before sunrise. Through a telescope, the rings are nearly edge-on, like looking at the rim of a dinner plate. Saturn continues to retrograde against the dim stars of Pisces.
Uranus: High in the southwest before morning twilight, Uranus is in the same binocular field with the Pleiades star cluster. It is easily seen through a binocular when moonlight is diminished.
Neptune: Considerably fainter than Uranus, Neptune shares a binocular field with Saturn. When the moon returns to a crescent phase, it can be spotted around midnight when it is highest in the sky.
On October 8, 2025, the Harvest Moon brightens the sky while Venus gleams at the edge of the Leo-Virgo border before sunrise. Jupiter shines near Pollux, Saturn lingers in Pisces, and Uranus and Neptune await darker skies. Mercury and Mars remain hidden in twilight.
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