A clear sky returned to the Chicago area this morning as seen in this image captured at 6:30 a.m. CST. (Click the image to see it larger.) Brilliant Venus is rapidly plunging into morning twilight as it appears low in the southeastern sky during early twilight. It continues to move toward its superior conjunction in March 2013.  Saturn rises before 3 a.m. and is in the southern skies, nearly 40 degrees to the upper right of Venus.

For our monthly sky watching posting, click here.    Read more about Venus as a Morning Star.