Venus blazes a bright magnitude –4.7 in the morning sky today. To its right, 1st-magnitude Saturn is also readily visible to the naked eye, while elusive Neptune lies between them. You’ll have a brief opportunity to catch the distant magnitude 7.8 ice giant in your sights with binoculars — or, better yet, a telescope — about an hour before sunrise, while the sky is still dark.
Start your search at Venus, whose 33”-wide disk (as large as Jupiter, thanks to Venus’ much closer proximity to Earth) shows off a 33-percent-lit crescent. Neptune lies just 3.2° southwest (to the right) of Venus in the sky and is best seen while the background is still dark, before dawn encroaches too much. Neptune’s apparent size is just 2”; you’re looking for a faint, “flat” star that appears more circular than pointlike and might have a bluish-gray cast to its color.
Finally, as you lose Neptune in the oncoming dawn, take a quick peek at Saturn, just 2.9° farther southwest of Neptune (and easy to center on because it’s visible to the naked eye). The ringed planet is showing off the sunlit southern side of its rings, which stretch some 37” from end to end. East Coast observers might just catch a glimpse of the planet’s brightest moon, Titan, which disappears into the world’s long, dark shadow just before 5:20 A.M. EDT — shortly after the planet has risen in the Midwest and is likely still too low for clear views, although those in the eastern portions of the Central time zone may have some luck.
Sunrise: 5:53 A.M.
Sunset: 8:01 P.M.
Moonrise: 3:31 P.M.
Moonset: 3:35 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (79%)
*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.
