Which Planets Can You See Tonight? (2024)

FAQs

What are the two planets you can see at night? ›

What Planets Are Visible By the Naked Eye? The first step to identifying planets is to know which planets are possible to see without a telescope. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are the five brightest planets in our night sky and, therefore, observable by most people.

It is possible to see the 5 planets closest to Earth with the naked eye. These planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They look like very bright stars. They appear to move across the stars at night.

Planets – Five planets in our solar system are easily observed without a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus is just barely visible for those with excellent eyesight under dark-sky conditions, provided you know where to look.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest, after Jupiter. It is one of the five planets visible from Earth using only the naked-eye (the others are Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter).

The brightest star in the night sky? You're right, it's Sirius (mag. -1.45), which coasts low above the southern horizon for most of us in the northern hemisphere during the cooler months. Sirius is so bright that it's not uncommon for people to mistake it for Jupiter (maximum mag.

Jupiter appears as a bright, white disk to the naked eye. The planet's surface is covered in bands of clouds, which can be seen under very dark skies. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a massive storm that has been raging for centuries, is also visible under very dark skies.

Dark, cold, and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is more than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth. Neptune is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit since its discovery in 1846.

Venus is currently in the constellation of Pisces. The current Right Ascension is 01h 47m 11s and the Declination is +09° 41' 05”.

You can see all 5 bright planets in the evening sky now (December 2022). Mercury and Venus are nearest the sunset.

What is the shiny star next to the moon? ›

You may have seen a bright object next to the moon which is not a star but is in fact the planet Venus.

And it'll continue to blaze in our morning sky – east before dawn – through March, 2024. Bottom line: Venus will be brightest in the morning sky around September 19, 2023. After that, Venus won't be this bright again until February and April of 2025.

Jupiter appears bright white and is a very obvious sight in the night sky. Like Venus, it can be seen in twilight, and it always shines brighter than the brightest star in the night sky - Sirius (magnitude -1.4). Viewed from the Earth, Jupiter is seen to move through about one zodiac constellation (ca.

Jupiter is currently in the constellation of Aries. The current Right Ascension is 03h 23m 37s and the Declination is +17° 48' 24”.

“Conjunctions are when two celestial bodies – usually planets – look very close in the sky from our viewpoint on Earth,” says Martin Archer at Imperial College London. “The reason it happens is all the planets around the sun orbit in roughly the same plane, called the ecliptic.

You can see all 5 bright planets in the evening sky now (December 2022). Mercury and Venus are nearest the sunset.

Venus is one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

Mercury and Venus are the two planets that can be seen as morning and evening star in the sky.