December 23, 2025: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and crescent shine in the evening sky. Find the planets with a binocular as Jupiter rises later tonight.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:16 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:24 p.m. CST. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
At Chicago, daylight spans 9 hours, 8 minutes. Beginning tomorrow, the interval slowly lengthens, although the latest sunrise does not occur until the 28th.
Four planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune – along with the crescent moon are visible during the nighttime hours. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are hidden in bright sunlight. Earlier this month, Mercury had its best morning appearance of the year.
Evening Moon
An hour after sundown, the crescent moon, 14% illuminated, is 20° above the southwest horizon. It is 8.1° to Deneb Algedi’s lower right, Capricornus’ tail. Look for and photograph earthshine on the moon’s night portion – sunlight reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land that softly illuminates the lunar night.
Saturn
At this hour, Saturn, nearly 40° to the moon’s upper left, is nearly halfway from the southern horizon to overhead. The Ringed Wonder is about the same brightness as Fomalhaut, about 30° to Saturn’s lower right. Through a telescope, the rings appear nearly as a line – a once-every-15-years view when the rings are seen nearly edge-on.
Neptune
Neptune is in the same binocular field with Saturn, although the most-distant planet is very challenging to see. Look for it during the next few evenings before the moon brightens. Twilight, moonlight, and outdoor lighting contribute to poor observing conditions. Wait until at least two hours after sunset. The observing window is open for about two hours before Neptune sinks into the dimming and blurring air near the horizon.
Through a binocular, place Saturn toward the lower right portion of the field of view. Identify stars 20, 24, 27, and 29 Piscium (Psc). Neptune is above these field stars and toward the upper left. Look toward the center of the field and the planet may appear in averted (peripheral) vision as a very dim bluish star.
Uranus
On the other hand, Uranus is faint, but considerably brighter than Neptune. The Tilted World is visible without optical assistance from rural areas and easily found from suburban locations through a binocular. It is near Taurus’ Pleiades star cluster. First find Aldebaran, the constellation’s brightest star, about 30° up in the east. Resembling a miniature dipper, the Pleiades are nearly 15° above Aldebaran and halfway up in the sky.
Through the binocular, place the star cluster – a pretty sight – toward the top of the field. Find the stars 13 and 14 Tauri (Tau) toward the bottom. Aquamarine Uranus is near them. One of the field stars is yellow-white, while the other is blue-white.
Jupiter
With Venus hidden from easy view, Jupiter is brighter than all the stars in the sky. It rises in the east-northeast less than 90 minutes after sunset. It is high in the south after midnight. During morning twilight, Jupiter is less than 30° up in the west.
The Jovian Giant retrogrades in front of Gemini, 6.6° from Pollux, one of the Twins. As Jupiter approaches its opposition on January 10th, when Earth is between the planet and the sun, it appears to move westward against the distant starfield – the illusion of retrograde.
Look for the planets during the nighttime hours and the waxing crescent moon after sunset.
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