Tonight · USA
Tonight’s sky in Chicago
A great night in Chicago, USA: dark from 18:14 until the Moon rises at 03:47. Tonight’s highlight is the Mars & Jupiter conjunction, high in the south-east at 04:54. The Andromeda Galaxy passes almost overhead at 21:39; the Pleiades pass almost overhead at 00:39.
Worked out for the night of Thu 5 Nov 2026, on Chicago’s clock (CST).
Mars & Jupiter conjunction
Best atWhen it is dark
| Sunset | |
|---|---|
| Dark from | |
| Dark until | |
| Sunrise | |
| Hours of darkness | 10 h 39 min |
The Sun does not get 18° below the horizon here tonight, so the sky never goes fully dark: these are the darkest hours there are.
The Moon
Waning Crescent, 10% lit. It rises at 03:47. Every phase for the year ahead.
Planets
| Planet | Well up | Best | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn | – | 49° up in the south | |
| Jupiter | – | 52° up in the south-east | |
| Mars | – | 56° up in the south-east | |
| Uranus · binoculars or a telescope | – | 69° up in the south | |
| Neptune · binoculars or a telescope | – | 48° up in the south | |
| Venus | – | 15° up in the south-east |
Best to look at
- Mars & Jupiter conjunction, at : 56° up in the south-east.
- Andromeda Galaxy, at : 89° up in the west.
- Pleiades, at : 72° up in the south.
The week ahead
| Night | Dark | Moon | Sky |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 5 Nov | – | Moon only 10% lit | Dark |
| Fri 6 Nov | – | Moon only 4% lit | Dark |
| Sat 7 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Sun 8 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Mon 9 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Tue 10 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Wed 11 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Thu 12 Nov | – | Moon only 14% lit | Dark |
Tonight here reads much as it does from New York, USA, whose page says it for both.
How it is worked out: the Sun, the Moon and the planets from the same ephemerides the sky map draws, for Chicago at 41.85°N, 87.65°W, with a flat horizon and the light-pollution atlas’s estimate of its sky. Dark means the Sun 18° below the horizon; a planet counts once it is 10° up. The methods and their measured errors.