December 29, 2025: The waxing gibbous is with Aries as Jupiter nears opposition, Saturn lingers after sunset, and Antares returns to the morning sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:18 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.
At Chicago’s latitude, daylight’s span has increased slightly to 9 hours, 10 minutes. Sunrise occurs at its latest time and continues at that mark through January 10th.
Antares Returns
Antares, along with the stars of Scorpius, is returning to the morning sky, although the constellation requires several weeks to fully appear above the southern horizon during predawn hours. Shining through early twilight, the reddish star is challenging to see as it makes its first morning appearance near the end of the calendar year.
One hour before sunrise, find Antares over 5° above the southeast horizon. Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii (π Sco)—somewhat resembling Orion’s belt—are to Antares’ upper right. Use a binocular to see all the stars in this region through the brightening sky.
Morning Jupiter
At this same hour, bright Jupiter shines from the western sky near the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux. With Venus immersed in bright sunlight near its superior conjunction with the sun, Jupiter outshines all other starlike objects in the sky.
This morning, Jupiter is about 20° above the west-northwest horizon, 6.7° to Pollux’s lower left. Each morning, the planet and nearby stars appear slightly lower. On January 10th, Jupiter reaches opposition, when it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.
Evening Gibbous Moon
After sundown, the gibbous moon, 74% illuminated, is over halfway up in the east-southeast, 6.4° to Hamal’s lower right, Aries’ brightest star. Bright moonlight washes across the sky, muting the view of dimmer stars and planets, including Uranus and Neptune.
Saturn
One hour after sunset, Saturn, noticeably dimmer than Jupiter, is about halfway from the southern horizon to overhead and over 40° to the moon’s lower right. The Ringed Wonder is about the same brightness as Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish, located about 30° to Saturn’s lower right.
Saturn is in a prime position for telescopic observing. The rings are viewed nearly edge-on, appearing as a thin line across the planet. At this orientation, the rings reflect sunlight away from Earth, making Saturn dimmer than average.
During the night, Saturn appears farther westward and sets over five hours after sundown, while the waxing humped (gibbous) moon sets about four hours before tomorrow’s daybreak.
Evening Jupiter
Jupiter rises in the east-northeast less than an hour after sunset. By three hours after nightfall—not so late with early sunsets—it is about 20° up in the east, to Pollux’s lower right.
Tomorrow, the two bright planets appear in nearly the same places at the same time intervals before sunrise and after sunset. The moon is farther eastward with a larger gibbous phase. Before sunrise, Antares is slightly higher and easier to locate.
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