May 5, 2026: See the waning gibbous moon near Antares and the Scorpion’s tail before sunrise, then track Venus and Jupiter in the western evening sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:41 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:54 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
Gibbous Moon, Planets
The gibbous moon is visible after midnight while brilliant Venus and Jupiter are in the western evening sky.
Moon before Sunrise
An hour before sunrise, the lunar orb, 88% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the south-southwest horizon. It is in front of Ophiuchus, over 15° to Antares’ upper left, Scorpius’ brightest star. A binocular is needed to see the Scorpion’s fainter stars.
Look for Shaula and Lesath, at the Scorpion’s tail, over 8° below the moon. They are sometimes known as the Cat’s Eyes. Meaning “the curved-up part of the tail,” Shaula is over 700 light years away and shines with a brightness of about 5,700 suns. Not as far as Shaula, Lesath – meaning “the sting” – is over 500 light years away shining with a brightness of 1,700 suns.
Venus
After sunset, Venus and Jupiter are in the western sky. Brilliant Venus, the third brightest celestial body, is in the west-northwest, easily visible at 30 minutes after sunset. Thirty minutes later, it is about 15° above the west-northwest horizon.
The Evening Star is 7.8° to Aldebaran’ upper right, too large of a separation for them to fit into the same binocular field. It steps eastward in front of Taurus as it moves toward the horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri.
Binocular View
Through a binocular, Venus is 2.0° to the upper left of Tau Tauri (τ Tau) and 3.6° to the lower right of Iota Tauri (ι Tau). It passes 2.4° to Iota Tauri’s upper right in two nights. Watch Venus’ change position from night to night. On May 8, Venus crosses an imaginary line from Aldebaran and Elnath.
As it moves eastward, Venus closes in on bright, slow-moving Jupiter, 35° to the upper left and about halfway from the west horizon to overhead. Venus overtakes Jupiter on June 9, for a pretty conjunction in the western sky after sunset.
Jupiter
This evening, Jupiter is 7.4° to the lower left of Pollux and 9.7° to Castor’ lower left, the Gemini Twins. Jupiter’s wide conjunction with Castor occurs on May 11 and with Pollux on May 28.
Venus sets over two hours after sunset, followed by Jupiter three hours later.
Look for the gibbous moon before sunrise, noting the two bright stars at the tip of the Scorpion’s tail. Look for brilliant Venus and Jupiter in the western sky after sunset. Note their eastward movement from night to night.
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