Night sky tonight in Chicago

The night of Monday 19 October to Tuesday 20 October 2026

At a glance

Sunset 17:59, properly dark from 19:04, getting light from 06:06, sunrise 07:11 (local time).

The Moon is 65 per cent lit and waxing, setting at 00:53. It is in the zodiac sign of Aquarius.

The planets

Jupiter: visible from 02:44 to 06:04, highest at 06:04 in the southeast, 47° up, near Regulus. Magnitude −1.8.
Saturn: visible from 19:04 to 04:44, highest at 23:34 in the south, 50° up. Magnitude 0.4.
Mars: visible from 01:54 to 06:04, highest at 06:04 in the southeast, 57° up. Magnitude 1.0.

Not visible: Mercury, Venus (too close to the Sun or not up in the dark).

ISS and space stations

ISS: Tuesday 20 October, 04:57 to 04:58, from the northeast to the northeast, up to 28°
ISS: Wednesday 21 October, 05:45 to 05:48, from the northwest to the northeast, up to 23°
ISS: Thursday 22 October, 04:59 to 05:00, from the northeast to the northeast, up to 19°

Visible passes this night and the next two: the station lit by the Sun, the sky dark. It glides across the sky as a bright steady point, without blinking.

High in the sky at 10 pm

This week in the sky

Comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS at its brightest: About magnitude 9.7: at the limit of binoculars, better in a telescope
Orionids: peak: Up to 20 meteors an hour under an ideally dark sky. The Moon is 78 per cent lit then and drowns the fainter ones.

All sky events

Live star map for Chicago