April 23, 2026: Venus passes the Pleiades after sunset with Jupiter and the First Quarter moon higher in the sky. Use a binocular to look for Uranus near Venus.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:48 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:41 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
Venus, Jupiter, First Quarter Moon
Venus, Jupiter, and the First Quarter moon are in the western evening sky.
Jupiter, Moon
Step outside an hour after sunset and look westward. Likely, the First Quarter moon, high in the southwestern sky, first catches your view. The lunar orb is 15° to bright Jupiter’s upper left. The moon is in lunation 1278, the number of lunar cycles counted since records began over a century ago.
The moon is 4.5° from the Beehive star cluster in Cancer. They are in the same binocular field of view, but tonight’s moonlight overwhelms most of the stars. There’s a better view next month, when the moon has a crescent phase as it passes the stellar bundle.
Jupiter slowly rambles eastward in front of Gemini, near the Twins—Castor and Pollux. It approaches Wasat, leading to their conjunction in a week. Use a binocular to watch Jupiter close this gap.
Evening Star
Tonight, Venus is nearly 15° above the west-northwest horizon, over 45° to Jupiter’s lower right. Stepping eastward ten times faster than Jupiter, the Evening Star dominates the west-northwest at this hour.
Use a binocular to find the Pleiades, 3.5° to Venus’ upper right. Tonight, Venus passes Alcyone, the brightest Pleiad. Additionally, the planet passes 0.7° to Uranus’ upper right. Uranus, Venus, and Alcyone are nearly in a line.
Several weeks ago, these articles declared Uranus’ observing season over for this apparition. The planet is low in the sky, so the lower atmosphere’s blurring and dimming effects affect its view. With Venus in the immediate vicinity, the planet might be visible. Venus is over 7,500 times brighter than Uranus.
After Venus passes the star cluster, it passes the “V” of Taurus, made by red-orange Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster, beginning in five nights and ending with an Aldebaran conjunction on May 1. Venus steps eastward against the rich starfield. Look for Venus against the starry background each evening.
Watch Venus, Jupiter, and the moon move eastward.
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