What do planets look like from earth

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When are the Planets currently on view? T he following table provides an indication of the times of the day in which to view each of the planets in Pluto is not included because it is solely a telescopic object. The table entries can be read horizontally by planet to track the changing visibility of a particular planet during the year or vertically by month to determine the visibility status of all the planets in any single month. Visibility tables for the years to can be seen on the Visibility of the Planets page.

When two or more planets are listed as being visible at ' Dawn ' or ' Dusk ' in any particular month e. Planetary conjunction tables can be found on the following pages: Venus , Mars , Jupit e r , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune. Because they mostly occur around dawn or dusk, conjunctions can often be difficult to observe, depending upon the observer's latitude and the local season. For this reason, the tables include an assessment of the likely visibility of each conjunction from both Northern and Southern hemispheres.

General visibility times of the planets in Visibility times of the planets are shown here in general terms for the current year; for an explanation of each entry, see the box below. With the exception of Mercury, the times are based on the planets' positions at mid-month.

Note that, although a planet may be listed as being visible at a particular time in a month, this does not necessarily mean that it will be visible from all locations on Earth. The observer's latitude and the local season can affect whether a planet is seen or not; this is particularly so for the ' Dawn ' and ' Dusk ' entries and especially so in the case of Mercury see under Mercury's description for more details.

Since the planets' viewing times can change in the course of a month eg. Click on a planet name to be taken directly to the planet's description and ephemeris. The Appearance of the Planets in the Night Sky. T he following images of the planets were taken by the writer using a video camera or a digital camera, and they give some indication of their naked eye appearance or in some cases, their appearance with optical aid.

The planets are listed in approximate descending order of their average apparent magnitude brightness when seen from the Earth. The brightness values listed for Mercury , Venus , Mars and Jupit e r are the brightest and dimmest magnitudes the planet can attain throughout its orbit the brightest magnitude is listed first ; those for Saturn , Uranus , Neptune and Pluto are the average brightness values for when the planet is closest to the Earth.

Following each description is a simplified table of planet positions known as an ephemeris along with the dates of the planets' significant orbital configurations oppositions , elongations and conjunctions for the period from through to inclusive. Planetary positions and configuration dates can be viewed back to An explanation of the abbreviations used in the tables can be seen here.

For the superior planets i. Click on a starmap thumbnail to see the full-size image and an accompanying description these will open in a new window. Note that the star maps include an element of distortion because of the cartographic projection; this is particularly the case where they cover large areas of the sky. Position your cursor over each planet image to see a photograph of the planet taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope HST or by other planetary spacecraft missions, with some additional 'pop-up text' information.

An image of the relevant Roman god appears next to the planet's astrological symbol mouseover and, for the planets known since ancient times, an image of the Greek god appears just below the reference to the god's name if Javascript is disabled in your browser, click on the image to load the picture in a new window.

Click on a planet to be taken directly to its entry Links to:. Selected Planetary Spacecraft Missions. Some Early Astronomers' Biographies. Holst's Planets Suite. Move cursor over image. Venus ,. Goddess of Love. Apparent Magnitude :. Original Greek name:. Hesperos "evening one" , Phosphoros "light-bearing one" or Eosphoros "bringer of the dawn".

Greek goddess: Aphrodite. Venus is by far the easiest planet to see with the naked eye. It shines with a brilliant white light, although some claim that it has a slightly bluish tint. It is the brightest planet in the night sky; when visible, it outshines all the other planets - and indeed all the other stars in the night sky - at which time only the Sun and the Moon are brighter.

Venus has a cycle of alternating morning and evening appearances, and is popularly named The Morning Star when seen in the Eastern sky before sunrise - see photo and The Evening Star when seen in the Western sky after sunset.

Each apparition lasts for several months, during which time the planet slowly moves away from the Sun, reaches its greatest elongation around 46 degrees away and then slowly moves back towards the Sun, eventually disappearing into the morning or evening twilight remaining visible for most of the time. When seen through a telescope , Venus shows phases much like the Moon to understand why the phases of Venus appear as they do when seen from Earth orbit, refer to the ' Inferior Planets ' section of the Planet Movements page.

Venus' thin crescent phase can be discerned in good quality binoculars when it is in the nearer part of its orbit to the Earth i. Some keen-eyed observers have even claimed to see the crescent with the naked eye! However, Venus' brilliance produces considerable glare when seen against a dark sky, so when using optical aid, it is best observed in bright twilight.

When shining at its greatest brilliancy, Venus can cast faint shadows at night, and it can even be glimpsed in daylight given a clear, haze-free sky and provided that the planet is well clear of the Sun.

The best way to see Venus in daylight is when it is a 'Morning Star', when it can be continually observed through to sunrise and beyond. Venus comes closer to the Earth than any other planet - to within 26 million miles 41 million kms. Its brilliance is largely due to the high reflectivity albedo of its clouds, which perpetually obscure the view of the planet's extremely hot surface.

Ephemeris Its greatest brilliance occurs about 5 weeks after greatest Eastern elongation evening apparition and about 5 weeks before greatest Western elongation morning apparition. In the following list, greatest elongation details are given in brackets in the format "Solar elongation, Constellation". Star map showing the path of Venus through the zodiac constellations during the earlier part of the planet's evening apparition in The latter part of the apparition is shown on a second chart click to see the full-size image, description of the apparition, horizon diagrams showing Venus' position above the horizon after sunset and Moon nearby dates for the period.

History of Telescopic Observation. The phases of Venus were first observed telescopically by Italian astronomer, philosopher and physicist Galileo Galilei in , using one of the world's first telescopes the first telescope is believed to have been made by Dutch spectacle maker Hans Lipperhey around The observation of Venus' Moon-like phases was an important discovery because it provided clear evidence in favour of the 'Copernican' system of planetary orbits - proposed by Polish cleric and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th century - which said that the Sun was at the centre of our Solar System.

In Galileo's time, the 'Ptolemaic' system - which put the Earth at the centre of the Solar System - was the widely held view. Galileo's defence of the Copernican system brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, and it ultimately led to him being held under house arrest until his death in Iove Jove. King of the Gods.

Apparent Magnitude:. Phaethon "glittering one". Greek god: Zeus. Jupit e r 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 Viewed from the Earth, Jupiter is seen to move through about one zodiac constellation ca. The four moons are brighter than the typical naked eye limiting magnitude ca.

Sometimes only two or three moons will be seen on a given night - in which case, the remainder are either in front of, or behind, the giant planet. Small telescopes will show Jupiter as a pale white or cream-colour.

They will also reveal the planet's two most prominent cloud belts: the North and South Equatorial Belts , and with patience, Jupiter's most famous feature - its Great Red Spot.

Although it is by far the largest of the Solar System planets, Jupiter is not the brightest planet when seen from the Earth - this particular honour goes to Venus. Jupiter is fainter than Venus because of its much greater distance from the Earth.

Like Venus, Jupiter can also cast faint shadows at night when it is shining at its brightest and is observed under very dark skies. Star map showing the path of Jupiter through Scorpius, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Capricornus and Aquarius from November to March click for full-size image, description and Moon nearby dates for the current year. Jupiter's four brightest moons were first seen telescopically by Galileo in ; for this reason they are often referred to as the 'Galilean satellites' or simply the 'Galileans'.

A year later, the moons were observed independently by German astronomer Simon Marius, who subsequently named them. Marte ,. God of War. Pyroeis "fiery one". Greek god: Ares. Mars is easily recognised since it has the most distinctive coloration of all the naked eye planets. Although it is popularly called ' The Red Planet ', it rarely appears red to the naked eye; in fact, it varies from pale orange-yellow to orange-red, depending upon its distance from the Earth and therefore, its brightness.

The reddish colour is caused by the presence of iron oxide rust on the planet's surface. Mars' attractive coloration has often given rise to descriptive terms such as "orange spark", "campfire orange", "pumpkin orange" and so on. Occasional global dust storms on Mars, such as those which happened in and , can however make it appear decidedly yellowish. Because of its eccentric orbit, Mars' distance from the Earth varies considerably from one opposition to the next, which typically take place about every 2 years and 7 weeks see Mars oppositions page.

In the opposition of , Mars came closer to the Earth than it had been for almost 60, years. For about six weeks either side of opposition, Mars can clearly be seen in twilight; at its brightest, Mars outshines Sirius the brightest star in the night sky but even at its more distant oppositions it outshines the star Arcturus magnitude Note that because of Mars' eccentric orbit, the dates of its opposition and its closest approach to the Earth can differ by up to two weeks.

When it is on the far side of its orbit from the Earth i. Through a telescope , Mars typically appears amber or salmon-pink in color. It is a difficult planet to observe - despite its relative closeness - since it is only about half the size of the Earth.

Under good atmospheric seeing conditions , small telescopes will reveal one or other of its polar caps and some bluish-grey surface markings which often change their appearance with the Martian seasons. Mars has two asteroid-like moons, Phobos and Deimos. They are too faint to be seen with binoculars and can only be seen with medium and large-sized telescopes around opposition - and even then, only when their orbits carry them well clear of the planet's bright disk.

A device known as an occulting bar can be used to conceal Mars from view in the telescopic eyepiece, allowing the moons to be spotted with greater ease. Star map showing the path of Mars through Aquarius, Pisces, Aries and Taurus from May to March click for full-size image, a detailed description of the apparition and Moon nearby dates for the period. The first telescopic observation of Mars was by Galileo in He was able to resolve the gibbous phase of the planet, but no surface details.

The first definite surface details were observed by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in ; his drawings show a dark triangular feature, which is now known to be 'Syrtis Major'.

Mars' polar caps were first observed by Giovanni Cassini in When Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli turned his telescope on Mars in , he saw what he believed to be a series of linear features criss-crossing the planet, which he named 'canali' Italian for 'channels', though it was incorrectly translated into English as 'canals'.

He thought they might be artificial structures, built by the Martians to irrigate the planet by transferring water from the polar caps to the warmer, drier regions of the planet. His observations were supported by other astronomers, the most notable being Percival Lowell founder of Flagstaff Observatory in Arizona but the idea was rejected by numerous others, who were unable to see the features that Schiaparelli had claimed to see. The 'canals on Mars' controversy was finally resolved when the first spacecraft were sent to take close-up pictures of the planet in the s.

No canals were found to exist on Mars, and what Schiaparelli had probably seen were the result of telescopic defects or tricks of the eye.

Schiaparelli had also believed that the dark regions on Mars were caused by vegetation growth an idea first suggested by French astronomer E. Liais in The idea seemed credible because the dark areas appeared to expand and retract in synchrony with the Martian seasons.

Today we know that these dark regions are simply a colour contrast effect; their apparent spreading and shrinking being the result of seasonal dust storms , which blow light-coloured dust away from the darker-coloured surface.

In , partly inspired by Schiaparelli and Lowell's ideas, English writer H. Wells published his classic novel 'The War of the Worlds', which described a Martian invasion of the Earth as witnessed by a London-based writer see Reference 1. The brightness of the planet depends on its distance from the sun, the size of the planet and the position of the planet and Earth. Planets can be seen during a period called apparition. Mars, Mercury and Venus can be seen during dawn or dusk when in this period.

Jupiter and Saturn can be seen in the dawn sky. Apparitions can last a few weeks in the case of Mercury to almost two years in the case of Mars. If you're a big stargazing fan then make sure you're free tonight to spot Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.

The planets will be rising earlier and earlier throughout June but for an idea of tonight's times take a look at the list below. Because the times for planet rises differ on location, it's good to use an astronomy website to get information specific for you. Try Timeanddate. Mars facts Here's what you need to know about the red planet And these are just measurements in our own solar system, a puny speck in the galaxy, to say nothing of the entire universe. Our intuitive sense of size, distance, and time are of little help when it comes to space.

The other thing Miller decides is how wide to make the entire picture. For five years he was the art director at the National Air and Space Museum. Miller likened the work of being a space artist to the forensic and paleontological arts, both of which require their practitioners to rely on small bits of information—bones, fossils, other clues—to imagine what something once looked like.

Or, in this case, what it would look like, were the solar system radically different, and Jupiter our very close neighbor.