Key Takeaways:
Let’s visit Venus in the early-morning sky; the bright planet rises around 5 A.M. local daylight time and stands nearly 10° high in the east an hour later. Blazing at magnitude –3.9, it’s unmissable in far eastern Leo; it will cross into western Virgo by tomorrow morning.
Venus is stunning through binoculars or any telescope; telescopic views will allow you to make out the planet’s gibbous phase, roughly 93 percent lit. The venusian disk stretches 11” in the sky and is shrinking as Venus pulls farther away from Earth as our planets orbit the Sun. Venus is headed for conjunction with our star in early 2026 but will remain visible through November, when it will finally draw too close to the Sun for us to observe it until early 2026.
Follow Venus into the morning sky as twilight grows — a brighter background sky often makes it easier to view Venus’ phase, as it reduces the glare from the planet. However, always make sure to put away any optics at least several minutes before sunrise from your location, which may differ from the times given below.
Sunrise: 7:04 A.M.
Sunset: 6:30 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:13 P.M.
Moonset: 8:56 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (96%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
