How to find and see the planets

Planet or star?

To the eye, planets look like bright stars, but there are two easy clues. First, they tend to shine with a calm, steady light, while stars twinkle and flicker.

Stars are so far away that they are tiny points, so air turbulence easily makes them dance. Planets show a small disk, and the shimmering averages out across it. Close to the horizon even planets can twinkle, so judge when they are higher up.

The second clue is that planets move. Over days and weeks they shift against the background stars, which is where the word planet, from the Greek for "wanderer", comes from.

Follow the ecliptic

The planets orbit the Sun in nearly the same flat plane. From Earth, that plane traces a line across the sky called the ecliptic, the path the Sun appears to follow over a year.

So the planets always appear in or near the zodiac constellations, such as Taurus, Leo, Scorpius and Sagittarius. The Moon also travels close to this line, which makes it a handy guide.

If you see a bright, steady "star" in a zodiac constellation that is not on your star chart, it is very likely a planet. A free planetarium app will confirm it in seconds.

Morning stars, evening stars and elongations

Mercury and Venus orbit inside Earth's orbit, so they never stray far from the Sun. They appear either in the west after sunset as an "evening star" or in the east before sunrise as a "morning star".

Their best viewing comes around greatest elongation, when they reach their largest angle from the Sun. Mercury never gets farther than about 28°, so it hangs low in bright twilight, while Venus can reach about 47° and may shine for hours in a dark sky.

Never sweep binoculars or a telescope near the Sun to find them. Wait until the Sun has fully set, or use a certified solar filter (ISO 12312-2) for any instrument pointed toward the Sun.

Oppositions: the best time for outer planets

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune orbit outside Earth's path. Opposition is when Earth passes between one of them and the Sun, so the planet sits opposite the Sun in our sky.

At opposition a planet rises around sunset, is highest around midnight and is at its closest and brightest. The weeks on either side are almost as good.

Jupiter comes to opposition about every 13 months and Saturn about every 12.5 months. Mars is the exception: its oppositions are about 26 months apart, and there is none in 2026 (the next is in February 2027).

What each planet looks like in a small telescope

Mercury shows a tiny disk with a phase, but it is low and hard to see well. Venus is dazzling and shows phases like a small Moon, from a fat disk to a thin crescent; its surface stays hidden under clouds.

Mars is small and reddish; near opposition you may see a polar ice cap and dark surface markings. Jupiter is the easiest showpiece: two dark cloud belts across its disk and up to four bright moons in a line that change position every night.

Saturn's rings are visible at about 30x magnification, and its largest moon, Titan, is easy to spot. In 2025 the rings appeared nearly edge-on, so as of 2026 they are only slowly opening again. Uranus and Neptune look like small, featureless blue-green dots.

Conjunctions and how to observe

A conjunction is when two objects appear close together in the sky, such as Venus and Jupiter, or a planet beside the crescent Moon. They are only lined up from our point of view, but they make easy, pretty targets, even for phones.

To start, check an app or monthly sky guide for which planets are up, then look in the right direction after dark. Let your telescope cool outdoors for about 30 minutes, and wait for the planet to climb high, where the air is steadier.

Start with low magnification to centre the planet, then increase slowly. Watch patiently: moments of calm air reveal much more detail than the first glance.