Planet Viewing

Mercury
The solar system's smallest planet flits back and forth from morning sky to evening sky several times a year. It never strays far from the Sun in our sky, so it's tough to find in the glare. From the northern hemisphere, it is visible in the morning sky this year in January, April/May, August, and December. The late-year appearance is the best because the planet will stand highest above the horizon. In the evening, Mercury is best seen in February/March, June/July and October. The early March appearance is best.

Venus
Venus, the dazzling morning or evening star, outshines all the other stars and planets in the night sky. It begins the year in the evening sky, in good view in the west as darkness begins to fall. It stages a spectacular encounter with Jupiter in mid-March. It will disappear from view in May as it passes between Earth and the Sun. In fact, Venus will pass across the face of the Sun on June 6, staging its last transit for more than a century. The planet will return to view as a morning star a few days after the transit, and will remain there for the rest of the year.

Mars
Mars puts on its best showing early in the year, when it shines like a brilliant orange star. The planet is at opposition in early March, when it passes closest to Earth and shines brightest. As the year progresses, it

will fade as it moves farther from Earth. Mars will huddle close to Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, in late March and early April, then stage beautiful close encounters with Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, in midAugust, and the planet Saturn a few days later.

Jupiter
The largest planet in our solar system, and the second-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon, begins the year quite high in the south at nightfall. It will stage a beautiful encounter with Venus, the evening star, in March. Jupiter will disappear in the Suns glare in late April, then return to view in the dawn sky in late May. The planets best appearance comes in December, when it lines up opposite the Sun in our sky. It will shine at its brightest for the year and remain visible all night.

Saturn
Saturn looks like a bright golden star. It spends all but the last part of December in the constellation Virgo, the virgin. Saturn is at its best in April, when it is closest to Earth. It disappears behind the Sun in early October, then returns to view in the morning sky in November.

Uranus

Although it is the third-largest planet in the solar system, Uranus is so far from the Sun that you need binoculars to see it. It begins the year in the western sky at sunset, then disappears behind the Sun in late March and early April, after which it returns to view in the morning sky. Uranus stages its best appearance in late September, when it is at its brightest and is in the sky all night. The best chance to see it, however, comes around February 8-10, when the planet is in the same binocular field of view with Venus, the brilliant evening star.

Neptune
The fourth-largest planet in the solar system is so far away that you need a telescope to find it. Neptune stages its best appearance in late August.

Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth, so explaining how to find Venus in the sky is pretty easy. It will be fairly close to the Sun. Venus orbits the Sun faster than the Earth so it will either appear in the sky in the West in the evening or rise before the Sun in the East. To pinpoint the location of Venus you can use some form of planetarium software like Starry Nights or you can do it the old fashioned way and train your telescope yourself. There are a few things to consider when doing that. The first is to understand what ecliptic plane is. When you trace the path of the Sun across the sky, its path is a line called the ecliptic. The ecliptic changes slightly throughout the year. It actually rises and falls. The highest point occurs at the summer solstice, while the lowest position happens six months later at winter solstice.

Most celestial bodies are most easily observed during an elongation. An elongation occurs when an inferior(closer to the Sun) planets position in its orbital path is at tangent to the view from Earth. Because they are inside the Earths orbits their positions are never very far from the position of the Sun. When a planet is at elongation, it is furthest from the Sun as viewed from Earth, so its view is best at that point. There are two kinds of elongations. The Eastern Elongation occurs when the planet is in the evening sky and the Western Elongation occurs when a planet is in the morning sky. This paragraph assumes that we are talking about viewing from Earth. The apparent motion of objects in the sky due to the rotation of the Earth is 15 degrees per hour. Venus is not visible against the Suns background light until it is 5 degrees from the Sun, so it can not be seen until 20 minutes after sunset or before sunrise. At its greatest eastern and western elongations, Venus is between 45 to 47 degrees from the Sun and moves 3 hours 8 minutes behind or in front of the Sun. That only leaves about 2 hours and 48 minutes of observation in a given day. Once you know how to find Venus in the sky, you will need a telescope to see anything other than a light in the sky. Also, you should have a planetary filter or off-axis mask. Still, it might be best to invest in a telescope with an automatic tracking system so that you can focus all of your attention on observing and not be constantly adjusting your scope. Good luck on your quest to observe Venus. We have written many articles about Venus for Universe Today. Heres are facts about Venus. If youd like more information on Venus, check out Hubblesites News Releases about Venus, and heres a link to NASAs Solar System Exploration Guide on Venus. Weve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Venus. Listen here,Episode 50: Venus. References: http://planet-venus.net/index.php?document_id=100 http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Secliptc.htm

The only star in the sky and its really bright (and moving)?
Any astrologists out there?? Ok so my window is facing north-ish.. and i can see NO stars whatsoever except One really big bright one that isnt moving (no not the moon the moon is the other side of the house.) and the star is sort of North-West-ish? 6 minutes ago Only friends Comment LikeUnlike Michael Edwards Michael Edwards I thought maybe it could be Venus but isnt that between us and the sun.. and the sun is below us right now?. and then i thought it could be mars but i dont know if you can see mars with the naked eye from

earth. I also thought it might be a comet or asteroid.. but its not moving? ANY ASTROLOGIST THAT KNOW WHAT IT COULD BE...? It could just be a big star.. but i hoping it something exciting.. (North star another suggestion but since its more north west than just north i thought not) And when i say its not moving.. in the last 10 minuits it has gone down towards the horizon about 3 inches.. ... See more also it is quite flickery and flickers very brightly sometimes. and it is going down a bit more now. and its still there 20 minuits later shifted from place to place.. also the horizon below it is quite light. it also just went really really really bright for a few seconds. then went really dark and now its bright again... also if this helps i live in southern England right by the coast near brighton. i really want to know if i have spotted something more than just a star.. ive had a suggestion it might be the ISS (internation Space Station) but i doubt it a bit.

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alsooooooooo it has gone down about 8 inches in about 15 mins

2 years ago

Comment to "Eri" when i was saying it moved by "X" inches i wasnt using i a ruler... i ment from the position it was in and then from where it was it looked like X number of inchs... also the time was about half 9... also almost an hour later.. it has now gone.
2 years ago

TO GEOFF G!!! Your absolutley right.. it is here again.. at the same time aswell (9:30PM )
2 years ago

eri

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I think you mean astronomer. 'Astrologist' isn't a word, and astrologers don't know anything about stars. Just making up crap. Venus is up in the evening and very bright. Yes, Venus's orbit lies between the Earth's orbit and the Sun, but that doesn't mean you can't see it just before or after sunrise/sunset. Sounds like Venus. Without an actual time and location in the sky it's hard to help any more. '3 inches' is meaningless. How close are you holding that ruler to you?

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Chandramohan P.R Down load free software called stellarium and it will produce a night sky map for you for your location for any time and date..Also sky and telescope.com has a free interactive sky chart Use any one of them and look at the map what is bright in the north at the time when you observed the bright object.. o o
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Delta V Moved 8 inches in 15 minutes then the object is almost certainly a satellite, maybe the ISS (..hard to say without knowing where you're located..) Planets and stars move much, much slower across the sky than what you describe. o o
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GeoffG

From your description, this was the planet Venus. It's the brightest object in the sky other than the Sun and Moon, and it appears to move slowly as the Earth rotates. It is off to the side of the Sun right now, which is why we can see it even though the Sun is below the horizon. It will be there again tomorrow niht, and evey night for the next 5 or 6 months.
Source(s):

Starry Night software.

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Robert N There are two items in the sky tonight: Saturn and Spica Both can be found west - south/west and will move as the earth spins on it's axes. Source(s): http://earthsky.org/tag/tonight o o
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