April 9, 2026: The Last Quarter moon appears before sunrise in front of Sagittarius while Venus and Jupiter dominate the evening sky. Track daylight changes and planetary visibility.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:20 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:25 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 the Sun, Moon, and Planets
Sun: At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 13 hours, 5 minutes, compared to 12 hours, 37 minutes in Miami. Farther north in Anchorage, daylight spans 14 hours, 10 minutes. Beginning April 18 at this latitude, the day–night cycle has no true darkness, only daylight and twilight. The sun is overhead at local noon at latitude 7° north. From south of the equator, daylight decreases. Today, daylight in Auckland is 11 hours, 17 minutes.
Moon: Approaching the Last Quarter phase, the lunar orb, 57% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the south-southeast horizon one hour before sunrise. It is in front of Sagittarius. Its brightest stars resemble a teapot. In this moonlight, look for the shape through a binocular. The moon is 2.3° to the lower right of Nunki and 3.4° to the upper right of Tau Sagittarii (τ Sgr on the chart). The Last Quarter phase occurs at 11:52 p.m. Central Time, before moonrise in the western hemisphere.
Planets Not Visible
Mercury: The innermost planet rises 50 minutes before sunrise and is low in the east-southeast 20 minutes later. It is very difficult to see even with a binocular. The Elusive Planet’s visibility during this apparition suffers from the shallow angle the plane of the solar system makes with the eastern horizon during spring mornings.
Mars: After the Red Planet’s conjunction with the sun three months ago, it is still hidden in bright morning twilight, rising 40 minutes before sunrise. Mars does not make its first morning appearance until late spring.
Saturn: The Ring Wonder rises only twenty minutes before daybreak, lost in bright morning twilight.
Uranus: The Tilted World is still in the western sky after sunset, although it is lower where the atmosphere blurs and dims celestial bodies. With some persistence, it can be found near the Pleiades star cluster. Better views are ahead when it returns to the eastern morning sky later in the year after its solar conjunction.
Neptune: The solar system’s most distant planet is on the west side of the sun, hidden by bright sunlight.
Evening Planets
Venus: The Evening Star continues to emerge from twilight into a darker sky. It is easily seen in the west-northwest as early as 30 minutes after sunset, setting nearly two hours after nightfall. It appears farther northward, mirroring the sun’s apparent northern motion during spring. Venus steps eastward in front of Aries and is overtaking Jupiter, nearly 65° to the upper left.
Jupiter: After Venus, the Jovian Giant is the second brightest starlike body in the night sky. It slowly rambles eastward in front of Gemini near the Twins, Castor and Pollux. With the moon in the morning sky, use a binocular to watch Jupiter approach and pass Wasat on April 30.
Venus, the moon, and Jupiter are easily visible during the nighttime. Daylight lengthens across the northern hemisphere.
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