October 16, 2025: The crescent moon appears with Regulus and displays earthshine before sunrise. Jupiter shines high in Gemini, Saturn guides to Neptune, and Uranus appears near the Pleiades.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:03 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:09 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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Today’s Almanac for Sun, Moon, and Planets
Sun: Daylight at Chicago’s latitude lasts 11 hours, 2 minutes. The sun appears overhead for observers at 9° south latitude.
Moon: The crescent moon, 22% illuminated, is less than halfway up in the eastern sky, 3.4° above Leo’s Regulus. From northeast North America and Greenland, the moon occults the star. Look for earthshine — sunlight reflected from Earth’s features softly lighting the moon’s night portion.
Inner Planets
Mercury: The innermost planet is in the western sky after sundown, but bright twilight overwhelms its light. It sets 43 minutes after nightfall. This evening apparition offers a poor opportunity to see the planet.
Venus: The Morning Star rises 105 minutes before sunrise and is less than 10° up in the east 45 minutes later. Venus steps eastward in front of Virgo. Each morning it appears lower but farther southward, reflecting the sun’s southerly rising point.
Outer Planets
Mars: Like Mercury, dim Mars is lost in bright evening twilight as it approaches its solar conjunction early next year. Tonight, it sets about 15 minutes after Mercury.
Jupiter: Rising near midnight, Jupiter is high in the southeast by morning twilight. It rambles eastward in front of Gemini, nearly 7° to Pollux’s lower right.
Saturn: The Ringed Wonder is 20° up in the east-southeast as darkness falls, slowly retrograding in front of Pisces’ dim stars. Through a telescope, the rings appear nearly edge-on, like the rim of a plate. Saturn serves as a guide to find Neptune with a binocular.
Uranus: With the moon back to a crescent, Uranus is easier to see in the same binocular field as the Pleiades star cluster. First locate the cluster, resembling a miniature dipper high in the southwest. Place the cluster at the upper right edge of the field, and aquamarine Uranus is toward the lower right. Uranus shines about as bright as stars 13, 14, 32, and 37 Tauri.
Neptune: The modern solar system’s most-distant planet is in the same region as Saturn. Best seen when it is highest in the south near midnight, Neptune is faint and bluish, only about 10% as bright as stars 27 and 29 Piscium. In a binocular, place Saturn at the lower right edge of the field, Neptune is off-center to the upper left.
Depending on the hour, at least one bright planet is visible. Use a binocular to track down Uranus and Neptune. Before sunrise, watch for earthshine on the crescent moon.
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