Science

You’ll Be Able to See Some Planets Very Clearly This Week — Nat Geo Tells You Where and How

For the first time in eight years, National Geographic reports, you can now see the five planets that are visible with the naked eye in one night.

According to NatGeo, the “classical naked-eye planets”, which are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, have not all been visible in the same night since 2004. Not only will these planets be visible all in one night — although not necessarily at the same time or in the same view — if you miss it one night you’ll be able to catch it in another, as the quintet will be around night after night for the next several days.

See Five Planets With the Naked Eye in One Night This March

(Image via NatGeo)

NatGeo has more on when, where and how to best catch these cosmic wonders:

The best time to catch sight of the cosmic parade will be between February 28 and March 7. This is when the more elusive planets Mercury and Mars will be at their brightest in the evening sky for 2012, and when the moon will be above the horizon for many hours before setting.

Just after local sunset, Mercury will be low in the west and rusty-colored Mars will start to rise in the east.

Catching Mercury in particular is notoriously difficult, [Geza Gyuk, an astronomer with the Adler Planetarium in Chicago] said, because the tiny world is the closest to the sun and so never appears very far above the nighttime horizon.

The best way to find Mercury with the naked eye will be to first identify the superbright planets Jupiter and Venus, which will appear in the southwest about 30 minutes after local sunset.

“Follow the line connecting Jupiter to Venus below right, and continue on until you almost reach the horizon,” Gyuk said.

[...]

Saturn—which looks like a bright, yellowish star—will rise near local midnight in the east.

According to Gyuk, the best place to view the sky show will be from either a large field or the top of a hill with eastern, western, and southern views.

Space.com reports that Venus and Jupiter specifically will be especially bright getting closer and closer together as the month progresses. By mid-March, Jupiter will pass Venus.

Watch this visual of the planets’ movements from space during the winter months:

Comments (28)

  • TyrannyNoMore
    Posted on March 2, 2012 at 2:04pm

    Conditions for star gazing have sucked since the early 90s. The reason for this is the constant application of chemtrails in our skies. I can remember visiting the northern woods of Maine with our telescope years ago. You could look up and see the Milky Way with the naked eye. There were millions of visible stars from horizon to horizon. It saddens me, this is no longer the case. People can try and claim chemtrails are not real, but the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. One only has to look up.

    Report Post » TyrannyNoMore  
  • christos
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 6:29pm

    @CHAMELEONX@JACKTHETOAD@MAMALONE—- The Bible says every knee in Heaven,Hell,&Earth Shall bow to +KING JESUS+ that would include you…Jealous of +JESUS+ sounds like it FOOLS

    Report Post » christos  
  • AmericanStrega
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 5:24pm

    I really miss planetariums (sp). When I was a kid (a long, long, long time ago) we would go to the Boulder, Co. planerarium (sp) on field trips. It was great.

    Report Post »  
  • Joshua7
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 12:28pm

    This is cool stuff!

    imahaftadustoffmatelescope ;)

    Report Post » Joshua7  
  • badswing
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 7:57am

    best site i have ever seen for astronomy. http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ look at the date and watch the solar system as you change the date. also has 3 views, one where you can look at the night sky and determine what you are looking at. all in real time. truly amazing

    Report Post » badswing  
  • 80mesh
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 7:40am

    one must be positioned at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue to see Uranus

    Report Post » 80mesh  
    • marthasusan40
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 7:46am

      Thank you for allowing me a little laughter in my Thursday morning “reading the news and getting more depressed”……….

      Report Post »  
  • Mop
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 4:41am

    I’ve been out there watching. Love it!

    Report Post » Mop  
    • @leftfighter
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 6:48am

      Oddly enough, my oldest has gotten some astronomy homework this semester and I’ve been watching this coming on for the past couple of weeks.

      Uranus is also up there in the vicinity of Mercury, but only viewable with a high powered telescope and in low lit areas. Good luck finding it if you’re in the city.

      Report Post » @leftfighter  
  • thynkr
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 3:07am

    http://www.cogbrethren.org/Creation.html

    Report Post » thynkr  
  • Slowman101
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 2:20am

    Cool! I will be checking it out for sure!

    No Obama 2012!

    Report Post »  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 1:38am

    4.0 Earthquake Censored MidWest+SouthEast USA Wiped Data Felt at least in 9 States!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=egi5bleeNPM

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 2:13am

      So why would the gov’t wipe the record? It appeared to be offshore.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • richauthor
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 3:35am

      I felt it too, here in Scottsdale, AZ. I was so sure that it was a quake that I jotted the time down at exactly 12:04am. Wow!

      Report Post » richauthor  
    • marthasusan40
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 7:55am

      I have a friend who really follows this site, some of this info is amazing…thanks for posting…some believe that it might be about the “Fracking” in these states… I am not an expert by any means, but it is very interesting…

      Report Post »  
  • christos
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 1:14am

    …….+JESUS+GOD+ are the Awesome Designers of the Galaxy to Show +THEIR+ Majesty,,,

    Report Post » christos  
    • chameleonx
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 1:36am

      I would respectfully disagree. Even though you’re entitled to your own beliefs I would have to disagree with you. As a deist I believe there is a supreme deity that created the universe. But I accept what science has to say about the big bang and evolution.

      Report Post »  
    • MammalOne
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 2:55am

      Don’t! Let’s not do this again…

      every
      single
      time
      …

      Report Post » MammalOne  
    • JACKTHETOAD
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 12:06pm

      Exactly, CHRISTOS! The music of the spheres, proudly brought to everyone by Bojze.

      Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • chameleonx
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 12:15am

    This is going to amazing. Space holds many, many; I lost count, mysteries. How worlds evolve and the possibility of life out there. Never stop believing.

    Report Post »  
  • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 12:07am

    I did see Uranus lives at the White House and he is married to Pluto.

    Report Post » Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra  
    • KickinBack
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 1:16am

      That would be married to “Planet X”…Scary, unpredictable, and full of myths..But which is which?

      Report Post » KickinBack  
  • AxelPhantom
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 12:04am

    Time to haul out the telescope.

    Report Post »  
  • CatB
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 11:55pm

    Cool .. I can look west from my home … .. but will have to go somewhere to see east .. too many trees and thick brush .. thanks for the info.

    Report Post »  

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