April 29, 2026: A nearly Full moon passes Spica while Venus moves against Taurus and closes the gap with Jupiter. Track their changing positions each evening.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:50 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:47 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
Bright Planets, Bright Moon
Brilliant Venus and Jupiter dominate the western evening sky with the bright moon near Spica.
Moon, Spica
Step outside an hour after sunset. The bright gibbous moon, 98% illuminated, is nearly 25° above the southeast horizon. The Full moon occurs on May 1.
Tonight, the lunar orb is 3.0° to Spica’s upper right. It passes 2.5° below the star at 2:45 a.m. CDT tomorrow morning. It sets about an hour before sunrise. Earlier this month, the moon passed Spica on April 2. This began a 27.3-day cycle for one complete lunar orbit compared to this star.
Venus, Taurus
Farther west this evening, brilliant Venus shines from about 15° above the west-northwest horizon. It steps eastward in front of Taurus. It is 7.0° to the right of Aldebaran and 3.8° to the right of Epsilon Tauri (ε Tau), at the upper right of the “V” of Taurus, made by Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster. In this moonlight, use a binocular to see the fainter stars.
Tomorrow night, Venus passes 3.5° to the upper right of Epsilon Tauri, followed by a conjunction with Aldebaran on May 1.
Venus steps eastward toward a conjunction with bright Jupiter on June 9, about 40° to the upper right.
Jupiter, Gemini
The Jovian Giant is about halfway up in the west, 7.9° to the lower left of Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins. The planet is 0.6° to the upper right of Wasat. Jupiter passes the star tomorrow evening. Use a binocular.
As the moon approaches the Full moon phase, Venus closes the gap to Jupiter each evening during the next several weeks.
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