August 23, 2026: Before sunrise, Jupiter emerges from morning twilight while Mars marches eastward in front of Gemini. Saturn retrogrades in front of Pisces, Venus brightens after sunset, and the waxing gibbous moon glides above Sagittarius.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:07 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:39 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, Moon
Sun: At Chicago’s latitude, daylight lasts 13 hours, 32 minutes, compared to 12 hours, 52 minutes in Miami. Farther north in Anchorage, daylight spans 15 hours, 4 minutes, losing 5-6 minutes of sunshine each day. Complete darkness returns at this latitude in two days. Until then, the sun has not been far enough below the horizon. Only daylight and twilight occur. The sun is overhead at local noon at latitude 11° north. South of the equator, the sun is in the sky for 10 hours, 58 minutes, compared to 13 hours, 15 minutes in Nashville, locations that are nearly equidistant from the equator. At all these latitudes, daylight is moving toward 12 hours as the equinox occurs in about a month.
Moon: An hour after sunset, the waxing gibbous moon, 84% illuminated, is nearly 20° above the south-southeast horizon. The moon is in front of the handle of the Teapot, Sagittarius’ brightest stars, 2.0° to Nunki’s lower left and 1.0° to the upper right of Tau Sagittarii (τ Sgr). Use a binocular to trace the shape of the background stars.
Inner Planets
Mercury: The Elusive Planet rises only 25 minutes before the sun. It continues to disappear into bright sunlight. It passes on the sun’s far side on the 27th and enters the evening sky for a poorly observed apparition from the northern hemisphere, but an easily observed appearance from south of the equator.
Venus: The Evening Star shines brightly in the west-southwest after sunset. As it approaches greatest brilliancy in a month, it is lower in the sky from the flattening of the ecliptic’s angle with the western horizon at this season. Setting less than two hours after sunset, Venus is less than 10° above the west-southwest horizon at mid-twilight. It steps eastward in front of Virgo, 7.6° to Spica’s lower right. Their conjunction occurs on September 1.
Bright Outer Planets
Mars and Jupiter: These bright outer planets are in the eastern sky before sunrise. Bright Jupiter is entering the morning sky. An hour before sunrise, it is about 5° above the east-northeast horizon. Do not confuse it with Sirius, at nearly the same altitude — height above the horizon — in the east-southeast. Mars marches eastward in front of Gemini near Castor’s heel, over 30° to Jupiter’s upper right. It is 2.5° to Tejat Posterior’s lower left, the heel, and 2.9° to Mebsuta’s upper right. The planet closes in on a conjunction with the Jovian Giant on November 16.
Saturn: The Ringed Wonder retrogrades in front of Pisces. The illusion occurs when Earth overtakes an outer planet. Earth passes between Saturn and the sun during early October. Saturn rises in the east about two hours after sunset. During the night it appears farther westward from Earth’s rotation, reaching its highest point in the southern sky nearly four hours after local midnight. By one hour before sunrise, it is in the southwest. Not as bright as Venus or Jupiter, Saturn is the brightest starlike body in the region.
Far Outer Planets
Uranus: The Tilted World is visible from rural areas away from outdoor lights on moonless nights near the Pleiades star cluster. Before the beginning of morning twilight, the stellar bundle, resembling a miniature dipper, is over halfway from the horizon to overhead in the southeast. Uranus is about one-third of the way from Omega Tauri (ω Tau) to 37 Tauri (37 Tau). The aquamarine planet is about the brightness of 39 Tauri (39 Tau).
Neptune: The Distant World is about 10° to Saturn’s lower right. The faint planet is in front of an unremarkable Pisces starfield, making it very challenging to locate.
Before sunrise, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn are easy to locate, while Uranus’ identification occurs through a binocular. For practical purposes, Neptune is not easily located. After sunset, brilliant Venus and a bright gibbous moon dominate the sky.
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