How to use it
- Place. The planner opens on the main city of your device's time zone. Search for your own city, or type coordinates such as
40.7, -74.0. Your choice is remembered in this browser only. - Night of. Tonight's night, from sunset to sunrise, unless you pick another date. After midnight it shows the night you are in until dawn. Any night from 1800 to 2099 works.
- The sky opens facing the bright planets, as you would see them from your place at the time below it: the stars down to the faintest the eye can see, fewer in twilight and moonlight, the Milky Way, the constellations and their names, the planets and the Moon at its phase. The Moon and planets are drawn larger than they look, so you can pick them out. Drag to look around (on a phone, swipe sideways), zoom with the buttons or by pinching, and slide the time, or press play to watch the whole night go by in about half a minute.
- Each planet's card says when it is up in a dark sky, its best time, how high it is and which way to face, how bright it is and the constellation it is in.
Times are in the place's own time zone. "Dark enough" starts when the Sun is 6° below the horizon, the end of civil twilight, when the bright planets show. A planet counts as visible once it is 5° above a flat horizon; Mercury and Venus also count as Twilight when they are 3° up in a sky with the Sun at least 3° down for 20 minutes or more.
How to find a planet in the sky
- Face the direction on its card. The compass letters along the sky's horizon match the card: southwest is between south and west.
- Measure the height with your hand. Held at arm's length, a fist covers about 10°, so a planet 20° up is two fists above the horizon.
- Look for the brightest steady point there. Venus and Jupiter are brighter than any star. Mars is orange and changes brightness from year to year; Saturn is pale yellow and steady. Mercury is never far from the horizon and is easiest with binoculars in a clear twilight.
- Give it a clear horizon. Planets low in the sky need an open view that way: a field, a beach or a hilltop rather than a street.
Binoculars show Jupiter's four largest moons as points of light beside it, and a small telescope shows Saturn's rings and the phases of Venus.
Why the planets change from month to month
Mercury and Venus orbit inside Earth's orbit, so from here they swing from one side of the Sun to the other. East of the Sun they set after it and shine in the evening; west of it they rise before it and shine in the morning. Their widest swings, the greatest elongations, are the best times to see them: up to 28° from the Sun for Mercury and 47° for Venus.
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn orbit outside ours. After passing behind the Sun, each one appears first in the morning sky, rises a little earlier every night, and reaches opposition when Earth passes between it and the Sun. It then rises at sunset, is up all night and is at its brightest. After opposition it moves into the evening sky and sets earlier until it is lost in the Sun's glare again.
Which planets can you see without a telescope?
Five: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. They have been seen since ancient times and are the planets the summary at the top counts. Uranus is just visible to the eye from a very dark site and easy in binoculars. Neptune always needs binoculars or a telescope. The cards for Uranus and Neptune say so.
How the planner works it out
- Positions. Planet, Sun and Moon positions come from Astronomy Engine, the same engine as this site's 3D solar system, which is tested against NASA JPL's Horizons system. They are worked out in your browser for your place and turned into height and direction with the standard correction for the atmosphere's bending of light near the horizon.
- Times. Sunset, sunrise, twilight, moonrise and moonset are searched to the minute. Planet rising and setting times agree with JPL Horizons within a minute at New York, Sydney and Tromsø in our tests, and the Sun's and Moon's with the U.S. Naval Observatory's tables.
- Brightness is the planet's magnitude: lower is brighter, and each step of one is about 2.5 times brighter. Our values agree with JPL Horizons within about 0.15.
- What it leaves out. Weather, light pollution, trees and buildings, and your height above sea level. A planet listed as visible can still be hidden by a hill or washed out by a bright city sky.
Place names come from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). The 3D solar system shows the same planets at the same moment from space, and its Sky panel lists every planet's position for any time and place. For the year's meteor showers and the best time to watch each one, see meteor shower tonight.
Planets month by month, October 2026 to December 2027
Which of the five planets you can see with your eyes, in the evening after dusk or in the morning before dawn, worked out every second night at 40° north (Madrid, New York and Beijing are near it). Elsewhere the same planets are in the evening or the morning sky, but one that is low in the twilight here can be higher, or lost, there. Use the planner above for your own place.
| Month | Evening sky | Morning sky | Not visible |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | Saturn (all night) | Mars; Jupiter | Mercury, Venus |
| November 2026 | Saturn | Mercury (from the 9th); Venus; Mars; Jupiter | None |
| December 2026 | Saturn | Mercury (to the 7th); Venus; Mars; Jupiter | None |
| January 2027 | Mercury (from the 21st); Jupiter (from the 25th); Saturn | Venus; Mars; Jupiter | None |
| February 2027 | Mercury (to the 11th); Mars (all night); Jupiter (all night); Saturn | Venus | None |
| March 2027 | Mars (all night); Jupiter (all night); Saturn (to the 25th) | Mercury (to the 19th); Venus | None |
| April 2027 | Mars; Jupiter | Venus | Mercury, Saturn |
| May 2027 | Mercury (from the 9th); Mars; Jupiter | Venus (low in twilight); Saturn (from the 9th) | None |
| June 2027 | Mercury (to the 11th); Mars; Jupiter | Saturn | Venus |
| July 2027 | Mars; Jupiter | Mercury (from the 7th); Saturn | Venus |
| August 2027 | Mars; Jupiter (low in twilight, to the 3rd) | Saturn | Mercury, Venus |
| September 2027 | Mars; Saturn (all night) | Jupiter (from the 15th) | Mercury, Venus |
| October 2027 | Venus (low in twilight, the 25th to the 29th); Mars; Saturn (all night) | Mercury (from the 25th); Jupiter | None |
| November 2027 | Venus; Mars; Saturn | Mercury (to the 21st); Jupiter | None |
| December 2027 | Venus; Mars; Saturn | Jupiter | Mercury |
Dates to watch
Oppositions, when an outer planet is opposite the Sun and up all night, and the greatest elongations of Mercury and Venus, their widest swings from the Sun (UTC dates).
- October 4, 2026: Saturn at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude 0.2).
- October 12, 2026: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 25° from the Sun in the evening sky.
- November 20, 2026: Mercury at greatest western elongation, 20° from the Sun in the morning sky.
- November 25, 2026: Uranus at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude 5.6).
- January 3, 2027: Venus at greatest western elongation, 47° from the Sun in the morning sky.
- February 3, 2027: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 18° from the Sun in the evening sky.
- February 11, 2027: Jupiter at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude −2.6).
- February 19, 2027: Mars at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude −1.2).
- March 17, 2027: Mercury at greatest western elongation, 28° from the Sun in the morning sky.
- May 28, 2027: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 23° from the Sun in the evening sky.
- July 15, 2027: Mercury at greatest western elongation, 21° from the Sun in the morning sky.
- September 24, 2027: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 26° from the Sun in the evening sky.
- September 28, 2027: Neptune at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude 7.8).
- October 18, 2027: Saturn at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude −0.1).
- November 4, 2027: Mercury at greatest western elongation, 19° from the Sun in the morning sky.
- November 30, 2027: Uranus at opposition: opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest (magnitude 5.6).
Questions
What planets can I see tonight?
It depends on your place and the date, so the planner at the top works it out for you. On most nights two to four of the five bright planets are up at some time between dusk and dawn. Mercury and Venus are only ever seen in the evening or the morning, near the Sun's side of the sky; Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be up all night.
Why can't I see Venus or Mercury tonight?
Both orbit inside Earth's orbit, so they never stray far from the Sun. For weeks around each passage between us and the Sun, or behind it, they are lost in its glare. The planner says when a planet is too close to the Sun, and how many degrees from it.
How do I tell a planet from a star?
The bright planets are brighter than almost every star, they shine with a steadier light that twinkles less, and they lie along the ecliptic, the line the Sun and Moon follow. Venus and Jupiter outshine every star; Mars looks orange and Saturn pale yellow.
What is the best time to see the planets?
An evening planet is best soon after dusk, before it sinks into the haze near the horizon. A morning planet is best in the hour before dawn. A planet at opposition rises at sunset, is up all night and is highest around midnight.
Can I see Uranus and Neptune?
Uranus, at about magnitude 5.7, is at the limit of the eye under a dark, moonless sky; binoculars show it easily. Neptune, near magnitude 7.8, needs binoculars and a good chart or a telescope.