All Eight Planets At Once
 | Author:
Jeff Ross
Contributor |
All Eight Planets at Once Jeff Ross We've had a dearth of clear skies lately but if we catch a break before the first of the year we will be able to see all 8 visible planets in the evening sky.
In order, from West to East, we will see Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus, and Mars. Yes, you astute readers will say "Hey, that's only 7!" but all we have to do is look at the horizon to see the eighth: our own planet Earth.
Venus and Mercury must be seen in the early twilight after sunset or we'll miss them. Venus is really low to the horizon now but is pretty bright. Mercury is much fainter but a few degrees above the horizon to the southwest.
Once you spot those two, the rest are relatively easy. I'll tell you right now that both Uranus and Neptune require either really young eyes or a fairly hefty set of binoculars and more than a bit of luck, so let's not worry about them.
Saturn is about 25 degrees high in the southwestern sky at sunset, dropping below the horizon about 8:30 p.m. Saturn's rings are tilted at 14.2 degrees and 4 or 5 of its moons are easily visible with even a small telescope--like the one you can check out from the Broadwater School and Community Library.
East of Saturn is Neptune. Next in line is Jupiter, very bright and still southwest at sunset and setting right around midnight. Even a small pair of binoculars will reveal the 4 Galilean moons: Ganymede, Europa, lo and Callisto.
Uranus is further east of Jupiter. Some of you younger readers might be able to see Uranus without binoculars or a small telescope but at 5.7 magnitude it's a stretch for older eyes.
Finally, Mars is due South at about 10:30 p.m. and sets well before sunrise.
A grand tour of our Solar System in the early evening no less! How does it get any better than that?
With clear skies, of course.
