The seven planets of the solar system sweep across the night...

The solar system will give an exciting show to sky watchers this week, as all seven planets outside Earth appear in the night sky at some point during the next seven days.

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Venus will be the brightest among these worlds, but Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible with the naked eye, and Uranus and Neptune will be visible with binoculars.

Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are best viewed in the evening, and assuming the sky is clear, Venus will be visible in the early morning sky.

Without a telescope or binoculars, all the planets except Neptune and Uranus would appear as stars or points of light in the dark night or early morning sky.

Neptune will be barely visible using binoculars or a small telescope about 9 hours after sunset, while Uranus will be visible to the naked eye in the very dark night sky.

The planets of Venus and Mercury are best viewed in the early morning sky, just before dawn, as Venus will be the third brightest celestial body after the sun and moon.

To find Mercury, you first have to search for Venus, being the brightest “star” in the sky, and then look down, near the horizon.

Venus is 70 times more luminous than Mercury, making it dim, except that it will be mainly visible in the northern hemisphere.

According to EarthSky, Mercury will appear better on the horizon unobstructed an hour before sunrise, and it can be observed with the naked eye, but its vision will be perfect using binoculars.

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As the month passes by Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, it will gradually become brighter in the daytime and climb to the top of the sky, remaining prominent longer before sunset.

Mars and Jupiter will appear with the onset of darkness, with Mars appearing as the brightest star in the eastern half of the sky and Jupiter being the brightest in the west.

The moon’s waning will facilitate the identification of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, while Jupiter is easier to observe as it is the brightest of the two.

And the moon begins to shrink, which leads to a darker sky, and when the sky becomes darker at night, you will see Saturn appear, about 5 degrees to the east of Jupiter, or the width of two fingers about an arm’s length from the eye.

Both planets will be visible in the southwestern sky just after sunset and appear relatively close to each other, although in reality they are millions of miles away.

Saturn will appear as bright as some of the brightest stars, but compared to the giant planet Jupiter, it will be pale as Jupiter outperforms the ringed planet 12 times.

From now until the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will gradually approach each other, until they line up simultaneously on December 21, the next time the two giants appear very close to Earth’s sky will be March 2080.

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While Saturn is the most distant world that can be easily seen with the naked eye, you will need a telescope to see its rings, which is something even more impressive in 2020 because it is tilted towards Earth.

Given the receding moon, the sky will be darker than usual, and if you can find a dark sky area on a clear night, you should be able to spot Uranus and Neptune.

Both would require binoculars, although Uranus might be “only” visible as a faint blue-green “star” with the naked eye, and would be in the constellation Pisces.

In the end, the bright planets for November will be: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which will be visible in the evening, and Venus and Mercury, and these planets will be visible in the early morning.

Source: Daily Mail

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