May 7, 2026: Track Venus and Jupiter in the western sky after sundown and find the gibbous moon in front of Sagittarius before sunrise during May evenings.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 5:39 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:56 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 (and a Stellar Treat)
Sun, Moon
Sun: At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 14 hours, 17 minutes, while in Miami it spans 13 hours, 15 minutes. Farther northward, Anchorage has 16 hours, 48 minutes. The sun is overhead at local noon at latitude 17° north. South of the equator in Aukland, the sun is in the sky for 10 hours, 25 minutes.
Moon: Before sunrise, the gibbous moon, 73% illuminated, is over 20° above the southern horizon. It is in front of Sagittarius, where its brightest stars resemble a teapot to the right. Use a binocular to see the shape. Upcoming phases: Last Quarter on May 9, New on May 16, First Quarter on May 23, and Full moon on May 31.
Planets Not Visible
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of Saturn reveals the planet’s cloud bands and a phenomenon called ring spokes.
Mercury: The Elusive Planet retreats into brighter twilight, heading for superior conjunction on the sun’s far side in a week. It moves into the western evening sky later in the month with Venus and Jupiter.
Mars: The Red Planet slowly emerges from bright sunlight after its solar conjunction over four months ago. Mars’ visibility suffers from the shallow angle the ecliptic – plane of the solar system – makes with the eastern horizon on spring mornings. This morning, it rises over an hour before the sun, but it is low in the east during morning twilight.
Saturn: Like Mars, the Ringed Wonder is in morning twilight, rising about 80 minutes before sunrise. In six mornings, Saturn appears in the same binocular field of view with the crescent moon.
Uranus: The Tilted World is in bright evening twilight. It is at solar conjunction on May 22. It is visible in the morning sky later in the summer.
Neptune: The Distant World is in the same region of the sky as Mars and Saturn, hidden by morning twilight.
Visible Planets
Venus: The Evening Star is the brightest starlike body in the sky. It is visible in the west-northwest as early as 30 minutes after sundown. Thirty minutes later, Venus is 15° above the horizon. It steps eastward in front of Taurus, 9.4° to the upper right of Aldebaran, the Bull’s brightest star, and 7.4° below Elnath, one of the horns. Tomorrow evening, it crosses an imaginary line between the two stars.
Venus is moving toward bright Jupiter, 33° to the upper left. Their conjunction occurs on June 9.
Jupiter: The Jovian Giant is noticeably dimmer than Venus, but brighter than all the stars in the sky tonight. An hour after sundown, Jupiter is less than halfway from the west horizon to overhead. It slowly rambles eastward, about 10% of Venus’ speed, in front of Gemini, 7.2° to Pollux’ lower left and 9.7° to Castor’ lower left, the Twins. Jupiter passes both stars in wide conjunctions, Castor on May 11 and Pollux on May 28. Tonight, it sets about five hours after sunset.
Tonight’s Stars
Ten of the 15 brightest stars visible from the mid-northern latitudes can be seen an hour after sunset. Find a space to see the horizon in all directions. Vega is over 10° above the northeast horizon. Arcturus is above halfway from the east horizon to overhead, while Spica is nearly 30° above the southeast horizon. Leo’s Regulus is over halfway up in the south. The others are with the bright planets in the west. Sirius is low in the west-southwest, and Betelgeuse is nearly 15° above the west horizon. As noted above, Aldebaran is to Venus’ lower left, and Jupiter is near Pollux. Procyon is to Jupiter’s lower left, and Capella is 30° up in the northwest to Venus’ upper right. Ranked in brightness order, they are: Sirius, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Procyon, Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, Spica, Pollux, and Regulus.
With the seasonal stars, this year May evenings bring two bright planets and a morning moon.
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