November 23, 2026: See Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars before sunrise. After sunset, find the Beaver Moon near the Pleiades and Saturn.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:50 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:24 p.m. CST. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Chart Caption – 2026, November 23: An hour before sunrise, brilliant Venus is near Spica while bright Mercury is near the horizon. 
Chart Caption – 2026, November 23: During morning twilight, bright Jupiter and Mars are near Regulus, high in the south. 
Chart Caption – 2026, November 23: An hour after sunset, the Beaver Moon is in the east-northeast near the Pleiades star cluster. 
Chart Caption – 2026, November 23: An hour after sunset, Saturn is in the southeast.
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Today’s Notes
- Four bright planets are in the predawn sky. Saturn and the Beaver Moon are in the evening sky.
- An hour before sunrise, brilliant Venus is over 20° above the southeast horizon. It is 2.4° to Spica’s upper left. Use a spotting scope or telescope to see Venus’ phase.
- After its greatest elongation, Mercury is less than 10° above the east-southeast horizon and nearly 20° to Venus’ lower left. Use a binocular to initially find Mercury. See it before it disappears into bright morning twilight.
- Bright Jupiter and Mars are near Regulus, high in the south. The Jupiter-Regulus gap is 3.8°; Jupiter-Mars is 2.9°. Mars-Regulus is 2.0°. The Mars-Regulus conjunction occurs in three mornings. The compact triangle easily fits into a binocular.
- After sunset, the Beaver Moon is low in the east-northeast. It is in the sky all night, setting in the west-northwest around sunrise. The Moon reaches the Full Moon phase at 8:53 a.m. Central Time tomorrow morning, after it sets across most of the Western Hemisphere. An hour after sunset, it is 7.1° to the Pleiades’ upper right.
- Saturn, 45° to the Moon’s upper right, is nearly 35° above the southeast horizon. It continues to retrograde in front of Cetus, with excellent telescopic views of the rings and southern hemisphere.
Look for the five bright planets and Beaver Moon.
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