Q&A for How to Find Planets In The Night Sky

In addition to the bright planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, under certain special conditions it is possible to see Uranus with the naked eye, though it is very dim and will be hard to locate. Any good astronomy news source should have an article if there is a possible viewing opportunity. Neptune, however, is pretty much impossible to see without at least a pair of binoculars.

Get a star map to find your way around. Try finding some of the more obvious ones, such as Orion or the Big Dipper, then use those to find your way to other constellations.

Find the planet using the naked eye, then point your telescope at it. If you have a telescope with setting circles or a guidance program, then you can look online for the co-ordinates of the planet and then point your telescope at the correct co-ordinates.

It is when it is dark, so the planets are more visible since the sun's rays are not blinding your sight. Sometimes planets can be viewed during the day, especially Venus.

A small telescope lets you see Uranus and Neptune as discs, but Pluto is only seen via a bigger telescope.

No, but Jupiter can often be seen with the naked eye.

In Europe you won't be able to see the southern part of the sky (Centaurus, Crux, Hydrus etc.). From New Zealand, you won't be able to see the northern part of the sky (Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Draco etc.). However, the planets are usually found near the ecliptic (the Sun's path across the sky) and the ecliptic can be seen from both Europe and New Zealand.

Because occasionally it is on the other side of the Earth. Our planet is spherical in shape, and the moon travels around it. So, it is not always above you. However, even when it actually is above us, we may not be able to see it. The reason is that it doesn't have light of its own. It reflects the light of the Sun to become visible. So, it has to be exactly opposite the Sun to be fully visible (the times when the moon is full). If it is not, it is half full or even entirely invisible, as the Sun doesn't illuminate its "face."

The moon doesn't only come out at night -- it's present in the sky all the time. Nighttime occurs when we face away from the sun's light, which makes the moon easier to see and therefore more obvious, but you can always see the moon during the day if you look hard enough.

You need a good star chart. Mercury and Venus will best visible in November and December.

They've already done this! Pluto and the other newly discovered ice planets have been put in a new class of "dwarf planets."

Look at how big they are and how bright they are. For example, Venus is the brightest planet in the sky.

Look eastward late at night. It will be really bright and won't twinkle, but since you live in an area with huge light pollution it will be more difficult to spot, binoculars are your best bet.

Look for objects brighter than stars. A good sign that it's a star and not a planet is that planets don't twinkle.

Google or another online search engine would be a great place to start. You could also look up books that have illustrations of space and the planets.

Look very far to the east; you might not be able to see its light but try your hardest.

You will require a big, strong telescope for it, you can't see them with the naked eye.

It could be many things, including an airplane (which is the most likely option) or a shooting star.

Yes. Red light is absorbed by methane in the upper atmosphere, which reflects the blue light and gives it that appearance.

If you know what position the planets will be, i.e., North, South , East, or West, you can use the compass to determine which way you are facing and what direction you need to turn.

Yes, that is possible to do from New Zealand. Face towards the North and check the sky in the right position.

Jupiter and Saturn. They will be in conjunction on Dec 21st, when the 2 planets are 0.1 degrees apart.

Because of the Earth's rotation on its axis, the entire night sky rises in the east, arches overhead, and then sets in the west. This is true all over the Earth.

You would need a very powerful telescope to view them directly.

No. At any given moment, we can see a little less than half of the sky. Some of the planets reside in the other half, which is "behind" the Earth.