March 21, 2026: Look west after sunset for a thin crescent moon and Venus. Jupiter shines high in the south while Uranus sits near the Pleiades.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:52 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:04 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
Almanac for Sun, Moon, and Planets
Sun: With the sun’s light directed toward the Northern Hemisphere, daylight duration expands there while it shrinks at southern latitudes. At Chicago’s latitude, daylight spans 12 hours, 8 minutes, increasing by 21 minutes by month’s end. In comparison, from Miami the sun is in the sky only one minute longer than at Chicago, increasing by 15 minutes by March 31. In Anchorage, daylight is 11 minutes longer than in Chicago and increases by about an hour by the last day of the month. South of the equator, Auckland experiences 12 hours, 8 minutes of daylight, decreasing by 24 minutes by month’s end.
Moon: The crescent moon, 11% illuminated, is in the western sky after sunset. Look for it 45 minutes after sunset nearly 30° above the western horizon. The horns, or cusps, point upward so the crescent resembles a boat. The moon’s night portion appears above the crescent and is gently illuminated by sunlight reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land — earthshine. The moon is over 10° above brilliant Venus.
Planets Not Visible
Four planets — Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune — are not visible tonight.
Mercury and Mars are west of the sun, rising during morning twilight.
Saturn and Neptune are nearly behind the sun. Neptune passes conjunction tomorrow, and Saturn follows on March 25.
Evening Planets
Venus: Brilliant Venus is low in the western sky below the moon tonight. Find a clear western horizon. Begin looking about 35 minutes after sunset, when the planet is about 10° above the western horizon. As the sky darkens further, Venus appears lower but becomes easier to see if the horizon is unobstructed.
Jupiter: Bright Jupiter is high in the southern sky with the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux, as darkness falls. It is the second-brightest starlike body in the night sky and shines at only about 25% of Venus’ brightness.
Jupiter is high above Sirius, about 30° above the southern horizon. Although they are widely separated in the sky, Jupiter is noticeably brighter than Sirius.
During the night Jupiter appears farther westward and sets more than three hours before sunrise.
Through a binocular, watch Jupiter approach the star Wasat before their conjunction on April 30.
Uranus: Uranus is visible through a binocular from suburban locations and to the unaided eye under rural skies. It shares the same binocular field of view with the Pleiades star cluster in the western sky.
Resembling a tiny dipper, the cluster is less than halfway up in the west and nearly 20° to the crescent moon’s upper left at the end of evening twilight, about 90 minutes after sunset.
The cluster is part of Taurus. Aldebaran is the brightest star, halfway up in the west-southwest and over 20° to Betelgeuse’s lower right.
Uranus appears as an aquamarine star near the stars 13 and 14 Tauri (Tau) to the Pleiades’ lower left.
Uranus’ apparition is nearing its end as the moon waxes and the planet appears lower each evening. Bright moonlight creates a veil that challenges views of fainter celestial bodies. As Uranus appears lower, thicker air toward the horizon dims and blurs the planet.
Look for Uranus during the next several evenings.
Notice the changing length of daylight at your location. Look for Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and the crescent moon during the evening.
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