November 17, 2025: Before sunrise, the crescent moon pairs with Spica. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune shine overnight. Mercury soon sprints into view.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:43 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:28 p.m. CST. 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-Spica Conjunction
Before sunrise, the moon pairs with Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, in the east-southeast. During the nighttime hours, Saturn and Jupiter are visible as well as Uranus and Neptune.
Step outside an hour before sunrise. The crescent moon, only 7% illuminated, is low in the east-southeast, 2.2° below Spica. The moon occults (eclipses) the star from southern South America and Antarctica, the 20th and final occultation until another series of 20 occultations of this star begins on February 12, 2031.
The view of the lunar orb and the star is pretty. The moon shows earthshine, sunlight reflected from Earth’s features that gently lights up the lunar night, visible without optical aid and photographable with a tripod-mounted camera or a steady smartphone camera.
The star Arcturus, the second-brightest visible from mid-northern latitudes, is over 30° to Spica’s upper left.
Venus retreats into brighter twilight. As the sky brightens, it is a few degrees above the east-southeast horizon and nearly 20° to Spica’s lower left. Unlike nearly every other celestial body besides the sun, moon, and Jupiter, Venus can be seen near the horizon if the sky is clear and the view unobstructed.
Jupiter with Gemini
At this hour, bright Jupiter is high in the south-southwest, retrograding slowly in front of Gemini, 6.7° to Pollux’s lower left, one of the Twins. The Jovian Giant rises in the east-northeast about four hours after sunset, appearing in the high southern sky nearly three hours before sunup.
Saturn
Until Jupiter rises, Saturn is the lone bright planet in the evening sky. Considerably dimmer than Venus and Jupiter, the Ringed Wonder is in the southeast an hour after nightfall. The planet is dimmer than average because we are now seeing the rings from the edge, and the ring plane reflects sunlight away from Earth.
See Neptune
When Saturn is in the south about three hours after sunset, attempt to locate Neptune in the same binocular field of view. It is very faint. Use averted (peripheral) vision to see the planet that appears as a bluish star.
Uranus and Pleiades
Uranus is easier to see through a binocular. Nearing opposition in four nights, the Tilted World is in the same binocular field with the Pleiades star cluster. As it appears farther westward each night, search for it from three hours after sunset until morning twilight begins.
Mercury and Mars
The other two bright planets are in bright twilight. Mercury passes between Earth and Sun (inferior conjunction) before sprinting into the morning sky for its best predawn appearance of the year, which peaks during the first week of December.
Mars slips into bright western twilight before its conjunction with the sun early next year.
Look for the Moon–Spica conjunction before sunrise and then find the other bright planets — Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Look carefully for faint Uranus and Neptune, while Mercury and Mars hide in brighter sunlight.
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