January 23, 2026: See the waxing crescent moon with earthshine near Saturn, Jupiter shining all night with Gemini, and viewing notes for Uranus and Neptune.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:11 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:55 p.m. CST. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Almanac for Sun, Moon, and Planets
Sun: At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 9 hours, 44 minutes. In comparison, Miami’s daylight spans 10 hours, 50 minutes, while at Anchorage daylight lasts 7 hours, 3 minutes. By month’s end, Anchorage gains 40 minutes of daylight; Chicago gains 17 minutes; and Miami gains 9 minutes. Today, the sun is overhead at latitude 20° south.
Moon: The evening crescent moon is east of Saturn. The 26% illuminated crescent is halfway from the horizon to overhead and 8.4° to Saturn’s upper left. Look for earthshine on the lunar orb, a gentle illumination on the moon’s night portion from sunlight reflected from Earth’s features. The moon sets over five hours after sundown.
Inner Planets
Mercury: The innermost planet remains hidden in bright sunlight after its superior conjunction with the sun two days ago. Mercury is moving toward an appearance in the evening sky and currently sets at sundown. It reaches greatest elongation on February 19, when it appears in the western sky during evening twilight.
Venus: The Evening Star is moving toward its next evening appearance after passing superior conjunction earlier this month. Venus sets only 16 minutes after sundown. Its visibility begins in about a month.
Bright Outer Planets
Mars: The Red Planet slowly moves into the morning sky after passing solar conjunction on January 9. It does not appear in the eastern morning sky until late spring.
Jupiter: The Jovian Giant is the brightest starlike body in the sky. To the unaided eye, the planet appears star-like, while its cloud features and largest moons are visible through a telescope. Jupiter is in the sky nearly all night as Earth’s rotation carries the sky westward. The planet is high in the southern sky before midnight and low in the west-northwest during early morning twilight.
Jupiter is in front of Gemini, 8.3° from Pollux and 10.1° from Castor, the Gemini Twins. The planet retrogrades against the starfield, 0.7° from Wasat (Delta Geminorum). Each clear night, watch Jupiter slowly open a gap with this star through a binocular.
Saturn: Setting about 45 minutes before the lunar orb, the Ringed Wonder is to the moon’s lower right after sunset. Through a telescope, Saturn’s rings appear nearly edge-on.
Faint Outer Planets
Uranus: The Tilted World continues to retrograde in the same binocular field with the Pleiades star cluster, near the stars 13 and 14 Tauri. Uranus appears as a faint aquamarine star and is nearly the same brightness as those stars. At the end of evening twilight, about 90 minutes after nightfall, the Pleiades—resembling a miniature dipper—are high in the southeast.
Neptune: The solar system’s most distant planet is in the same binocular field with Saturn, although moonlight from the nearby lunar orb is enough to wash out this faint world. A short viewing window occurs when the moon is at the waning gibbous phase and rises later at night. Neptune’s apparition is quickly closing as the planet appears lower in the southwestern sky during prime viewing times, where thicker air near the horizon blurs and dims celestial bodies.
While Mercury, Venus, and Mars are hidden in bright sunlight, Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon are visible during the nighttime hours.
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