Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, ranking just behind the Moon and Venus. You can see it with the naked eye, though you’ll of course have better views through binoculars or a telescope. Named for the goddess of love, Venus is about the same size as the earth, but it’s otherwise incredibly different and distinctive. It has a volcanic landscape and is covered in acidic clouds. The planet’s surface reaches temperatures of 900 oF (465 oC)—not exactly hospitable to human life! December 17-26, Ursids: Meteors will appear in the Northern Hemisphere between December 17 and 26, reaching their peak around December 22. The Ursids aren’t as flashy and dramatic as the Geminids just a week before, but I’m fond of them nonetheless. People have been stargazing for millennia, using the sky as a sort of map for navigation, creating stories and mythologies about the stars, and wondering what it would be like to travel the galaxy. There’s something so fundamental and human about the sense of awe and wonder that planets, stars, moons, and nebulae inspire in us. Best at the start of July, as by the end of the month it is setting before the Sun. Currently in a very thin crescent phase.

In the next section, I’ll discuss each planet, one by one, and offer some tips on when and how to view them at their best. Finding planets For a greater challenge, try looking for Mercury’s greatest elongations: western (and therefore seen in the morning) around the 30 January, 29 May and 22 September and eastern (seen in the evening) around 11 April, 10 August and 4 December.

Europa and its shadow transit Jupiter between 16:35 and 19:28 UT. Callisto drifts south of Jupiter as this is happening. Visual Magnitude: This is the astronomer's scale for measuring the brightness of objects in the sky. The dimmest object visible in the night sky under perfectly dark conditions is about magnitude 6.5. Brighter stars are magnitude 2 or 1. The brightest objects get negative numbers. Venus can be as bright as magnitude minus 4.9. The full moon is minus 12.7 and the sun is minus 26.8. You can use the star maps here (Northern Hemisphere) and here (Southern Hemisphere) to figure out Pluto’s location in the night sky. Phases of the Moon You can find out more about these moon events by reading our guide on how to see Jupiter's Galilean moons. It is just visible using a good pair of 9 x 50 binoculars. The spherical cluster, of about a million stars can be seen using a 90mm f10 telescope but will look even more impressive when using a larger telescope.

Degrees (measuring the sky): The sky is 360 degrees all the way around, which means roughly 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. It's easy to measure distances between objects: Your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky, while a finger covers about one degree. While you wouldn’t think it, there are lots of terms that seem to be new in the field of astronomy – at least to me. One term I had never heard before this year was “Hybrid Solar Eclipse,” which is apparently how you can describe the solar eclipse happening on April 19th.Low evening planet, which is best at the start of June when crossing M44, the Beehive Cluster. But the view is compromised by twilight. March 1:Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Both planets have their closest approach in the sky. Venus will continue to climb higher throughout the month each evening. Jupiter will no longer be visible in the morning sky by month’s end. Using binoculars, the dwarf planet Ceres can be seen. On opposition night Uranus will be closest to Earth for this year — at a distance of 1.73 billion miles, 2.79 billion km, or 155 light-minutes. Uranus' minimum distance from Earth will boost its brightness to magnitude 5.62. It will also appear slightly larger — showing a 3.8 arc-seconds-wide disk in telescopes for a week or so centered on opposition night. The northeastern sky on November evenings hosts the bright constellations of Perseus and W-shaped Cassiopeia, with the very bright star Capella positioned below them.