Where Are Jupiter And Venus This Morning?
Early To Rise
I’m usually up early and often go out on our deck for a view of the eastern sky before sunrise. Childhood memories of my dad’s backyard astronomy lessons come back and I’m wondering about what I’m seeing in the sky. We live in Northern Virginia near DC so even before sunrise the light pollution makes only a few objects visible. Still, two objects in particular stand out. I turned to ChatGPT to help identify them. (The image above I took with my handheld iPhone.)
My Original Question
When viewed at 5:30 AM from Alexandria Virginia, what are the relative positions of Venus and Jupiter in the eastern sky?
ChatGPT’s Answer
Short answer for today, Tue Sep 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM EDT in Alexandria:
- Jupiter: highest of the two—roughly a third to halfway up in the sky due east (about E, ~35–40° altitude).
- Venus: the very bright “morning star,” low in the east-northeast, around 10–15° above the horizon.
So: Jupiter sits above and a little to the right of Venus in the eastern sky. Venus rose around 4:19 AM and Jupiter around 2:00 AM; sunrise is about 6:42 AM, so you’ve got a bright, pre-dawn view.
Tip: find a clear eastern horizon—trees/houses will hide Venus when it’s that low. Binoculars can help in the brightening twilight.
Steps Followed
I asked ChatGPT to document the steps it followed in answering. Its response:
1. Establish time and location: Used the specified time (5:30 AM) and location (Alexandria, VA) and confirmed the local time zone.
2. Identify visible planets: Determined that Venus and Jupiter are visible in the pre-dawn sky on Sept 9, 2025.
3. Retrieve rise/set times: Verified rise times (Jupiter ~2:00 AM, Venus ~4:19 AM) and sunrise (~6:42 AM).
4. Calculate positions: Consulted ephemeris data for alt-az values (Jupiter ~35–40° altitude, ~88° azimuth; Venus ~10–15° altitude, ~76–80° azimuth).
5. Interpret relative positions: Jupiter is higher and slightly right (south) of Venus; Venus is lower and slightly left (north).
6. Cross-check constellation background: Jupiter in Gemini, Venus in Cancer, confirming their placement.
7. Summarize for clarity: Explained Jupiter’s higher-right position vs. Venus’ lower-left placement, both visible in the eastern sky.
So What?
Admittedly this was a frivolous use of resources —I’m thinking of the energy needed to power and cool the server farms that participated in the answer. But I did enjoy indulging my curiosity given these brilliant examples of before-sunrise natural beauty. Some additional comments:
Seeing these planets visible with reflected light (as opposed to stars, which generate their own light) is a reminder of how powerful a lightsource our Sun is, even though it is classified as a G-type main-sequence star, AKA a “yellow dwarf star.”
I was so interested in seeing Jupiter and Venus this morning that I didn’t even notice how bright the Moon was behind me, which is in its “waning gibbous” phase on Sept. 9.
AI tools may have gotten a bad rap because they occasionally “hallucinate” or generate incorrect answers. I have no reasonable way of verifying the planet information ChatGPT supplied, but I suspect it’s probably correct!
Would I have been able to answer the question on my own using the books we have in our personal library? Probably, but it would have taken a LOT longer.
Walking though the steps ChatGPT followed in answering the question I could not help but be reminded of what sailors of old had to go through to navigate when sailing out of sight of land on the open seas. Similar techniques were used during the Cold War by high flying bombers to stay on course before the advent of navigational satellites.
If you live in an area where stars—and planets—are regularly visible at night, consider yourself lucky!
Copyright (c) 2025 by Dennis D. McDonald
