When to see the planets
A year of the five bright planets at a glance: when each one can be found in the evening sky after sunset, when in the morning sky before sunrise, and when it is hidden in the Sun’s glare.
This year
This month
Each planet’s best stretch
A planet is counted as visible when it stands at least 18° from the Sun for Mercury, 10° for Venus and 15° for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These are rules of thumb: the horizon, the weather and your latitude all matter, and Mercury in particular can be hard to find even when it counts.
Morning star and evening star
A planet east of the Sun sets after it and is seen in the west after sunset; a planet west of the Sun rises before it and is seen in the east before sunrise. Mercury and Venus, inside the Earth’s orbit, swing from one side of the Sun to the other and never get far from it: Mercury at most about twenty-eight degrees, Venus about forty-seven. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn go all the way round. After they pass behind the Sun they come back in the morning sky, rise a little earlier every night until they stand opposite the Sun and are up all night, and then linger in the evening sky, sinking into the dusk until they meet the Sun again.
How it is worked out
For every day of the year, at noon universal time, the page takes the angle between each planet and the Sun as seen from the centre of the Earth, and which side of the Sun the planet is on, from the same astronomy as the rest of the site. A day counts as visible when the angle passes the rule of thumb for that planet. The meetings with the Sun and the oppositions are found to the minute. The page does not know your horizon or your weather; far from the equator a summer sky that never gets dark can hide even a bright planet, and how steeply the zodiac meets the horizon changes how high a planet stands at the same distance from the Sun.
What it claims
The chart says where to look and when, and nothing more. The tradition has long given meaning to a planet rising before the Sun or setting after it; that is described on the pages for each planet, and this page predicts nothing.
Questions people ask
Which planets are visible this month?
The section headed Now, with the month and year, answers it for the day you open the page. A sentence names the planets in the evening sky, those in the morning sky and those too close to the Sun, and then a line for each planet gives how far it stands from the Sun and roughly until when it stays in view, or when it comes back. For a single night, with rising and setting times for your own place, the tonight page is the one to use.
What does it mean when a planet is at opposition?
A planet is at opposition when it stands directly opposite the Sun in the sky, with the Earth between them, which only Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the planets beyond can do. Around opposition the planet rises at sunset, is highest near midnight and sets at sunrise, and it is also close to its nearest and brightest for the year. Mars reaches opposition only about every twenty-six months, Jupiter and Saturn a little more than once a year. The diamonds on this chart mark each opposition.
How do I read the planet visibility chart?
Each planet has its own lane running from January to December. A solid band means the planet is in the evening sky after sunset, a hatched band means the morning sky before sunrise, and a gap means it is too near the Sun to see. A circle marks a conjunction with the Sun, with a dot inside when Mercury or Venus passes in front of it, a diamond marks an opposition, and a vertical line marks today. Point at any band or mark to read its dates.
How far from the Sun does a planet need to be to be seen?
There is no single figure, because it depends on the planet’s brightness and on the sky. This page uses rules of thumb: eighteen degrees for Mercury, which is faint and always low, ten for Venus, which is bright enough to show close to the Sun, and fifteen for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Even then the horizon, haze and latitude matter. Far from the equator the zodiac can lie shallow against the horizon at dusk, so a planet at the right distance from the Sun can still set in the twilight.