March 16, 2026: Venus and Jupiter dominate the evening sky while Uranus remains near the Pleiades. With the March equinox approaching, daylight and nighttime are nearly equal across many latitudes.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:01 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:59 p.m. CDT. 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
Sky Almanac Sun, Moon and Planets
Sun, Moon
Sun: As the equinox approaches in four days, latitudes away from the poles are experiencing their transition toward 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime. At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 11 hours, 58 minutes. Tomorrow, the length is three minutes longer. At Miami’s latitude, the length of daylight and darkness was equal yesterday. Today, daylight lasts one minute longer. In Anchorage, the sun is above the horizon for 11 hours, 53 minutes. In two days, the length is 12 hours. South of the equator, in Auckland, daylight is 12 hours, 19 minutes. In eight days, the length is 12 hours. At latitude 2° south, the sun is overhead at local noon.
Moon: The moon is nearing the completion of this lunation (1276), with the New moon on March 18 at 8:23 p.m. Central Time. This morning, motivated sky watchers might find a whisker-thin lunar crescent low in the east-southeast during brighter morning twilight.
Visible Planets
Two of the five bright planets — Venus and Jupiter — are visible during the nighttime hours. Uranus is visible through a binocular.
Venus: The Evening Star continues to emerge from brighter twilight into a darker sky. At 35 minutes after sunset, it is nearly 10° above the west horizon. Look for it across a clear horizon, perhaps from a hilltop or a building’s high floor. Venus is easier to see 10 minutes later, but it is noticeably lower. Notice how the planet is farther north from week to week, reflecting the sun’s apparent northward movement in the sky.
Jupiter:Shining as the second-brightest planet and starlike body tonight, the Jovian Giant is high in the southern sky when Venus is visible, but it shines at less than one-quarter of Venus’ brilliance. An hour after sundown, when the starry background is visible, Jupiter is near the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux. It slowly rambles eastward, approaching the star Wasat. Use a binocular to watch the planet close the gap to the star. Later in the night, Jupiter and Gemini are farther westward, setting in the west-northwest more than three hours before sunup.
Uranus: While not typically considered one of the five bright planets, the Tilted World is visible from rural locations away from outdoor lighting. For others, a binocular is needed to see it as an aquamarine star near the Pleiades. There is some urgency to see it because the window of visibility for this apparition is closing. When it returns to the eastern morning sky during summer, it is farther eastward, but still in the same binocular field with the star cluster.
Until the bright moon returns in several nights, locate the Pleiades — a stellar bundle resembling a miniature dipper — halfway up in the western sky. Inspect the star cluster with the binocular, then move it slightly so the cluster is near the 2 o’clock position in the field of view. Uranus is near the stars 13 and 14 Tauri (Tau), off center and toward the 8 o’clock position.
A telescope with magnifications around 100× can begin to see Uranus as a globe, while the stars remain points of light. During bright moonlight, Uranus can be seen, but with some difficulty, as the light veils dimmer celestial wonders. When the moon enters the waning phase, Uranus is much lower where the atmosphere dims and blurs celestial bodies. See Uranus now or wait until at least the summer to easily see it again.
Planets Not Visible
Mercury and Mars are west of the sun, meaning they rise before the sun but remain hidden in bright morning twilight.
Similarly, Saturn and Neptune are east of the sun, setting shortly after sunset. Neptune is in conjunction with the sun on March 22, followed by Saturn three days later.
As the New moon and equinox approach, look for Venus, Jupiter, and Uranus in the evening sky.
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