March 6, 2026: A bright gibbous Moon appears near Spica before sunrise while Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus are visible after sunset.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:16 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:47 p.m. CST. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Venus as an Evening Star
Morning Moon Near Spica
Three bright planets and the moon are visible during the nighttime hours. One hour before sunrise, the bright gibbous moon, 91% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the southwest horizon. It is 3.8° to the lower right of Spica, Virgo’s brightest star.
At this hour, the sky is without a bright planet, as Jupiter set a few hours ago. Mars is west of the sun, meaning that it rises before sunrise, but that occurs during bright morning twilight. The Red Planet emerges from bright sunlight into a darker sky during late spring.
Venus, Saturn After Sunset
After sunset, Venus is climbing into a darker sky. At 35 minutes after sunset, it is over 5° above the horizon — a low altitude — but the planet is visible across a natural horizon. Initially locate it with a binocular.
Saturn is 1.9° to Venus’ upper left. Both are in the same binocular field of view, but because the Ringed Wonder is only 1% of Venus’ brightness, Saturn is marginally visible, if at all, at this level of twilight. Try again in about 10 minutes, but both planets are then lower and further dimmed by the filtering effects of the air near the horizon.
Neptune is beyond Saturn in the solar system, but in the same region of the sky. The farthest planet in the modern solar system model is over 100 times fainter than Saturn. Its observing window closed a few weeks ago.
Bright Jupiter, Gemini
After Venus sets about 70 minutes after sunset, bright Jupiter dominates the night sky. It is easily visible while looking for Venus and Saturn. As the sky darkens further, notice that it is near the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux, high in the southeast. The Jovian Giant’s retrograde ends in four nights. After it begins direct, or eastward, motion, it approaches and passes the star Wasat.
As night progresses, Jupiter is in the southern sky nearly two hours after sundown. Later it appears lower in the western sky, setting in the west-northwest about three hours before daybreak.
Uranus Through a Binocular
With moonrise occurring later each night — tonight four hours after sunset — a two-hour window is available to look for Uranus through a binocular. At the end of evening twilight, the Tilted World is about halfway up in the western sky near the Pleiades star cluster. Look for the planet with the stellar bundle in the same field of view that includes 13 and 14 Tauri (Tau). Uranus appears as an aquamarine star.
Moon Late Night
At five hours after nightfall, the bright moon, 86% illuminated, is over 10° above the east-southeast horizon and 7.2° to Spica’s lower left.
The evening hours are the best times to look for Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The moon is near Spica before sunrise or later during the night.
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