Planets visible tonight from your own sky
Wondering whether that bright “star” is Jupiter? This planets visible tonight calculator works out, for your location and any night, which of the five naked-eye planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — can actually be seen, when each rises, crosses the meridian and sets, how bright it is, and in plain words where to look and when. Tick a box to add Uranus and Neptune for binocular and telescope users.
Each planet gets a card with its status (all night, evening, before dawn, too close to the Sun), a sentence such as “Look east-southeast from 19:40, low at 12°, highest 61° in the south at 00:31”, and the altitude and azimuth at the clock time you choose. A table then follows every planet hour by hour from sunset to sunrise. Positions come from Paul Schlyter’s orbital elements with the main perturbations, computed in your browser, and the sunset, twilight and horizon tests use the same solar maths as the sun position calculator.
How to use the Planets Visible Tonight
- Choose a City or enter Latitude, Longitude and Time zone (or press Use my location).
- Pick the Night of date — the evening of that date through to the following dawn — and the clock time you want positions for. Tonight, now sets both to the current moment.
- Read the summary line, then each planet’s card: status badge, where-to-look sentence, altitude and direction at your time, rise, transit and set times, magnitude and distance.
- Scroll to the hourly table to see altitude and compass direction for every planet through the night; dark-sky hours are highlighted.
- Tick Include Uranus and Neptune if you have binoculars or a telescope.
Planets Visible Tonight features
Honest visibility test
A planet counts as visible only when it is at least 3° above a flat horizon while the Sun is more than 6° below it; the glare zone within 15° of the Sun is flagged separately.
Where-to-look sentences
Compass direction and altitude at the first visible moment, the highest point and the last visible time, written as instructions rather than numbers.
Rise, transit, set
Event times to about a minute with the compass bearing at rise and set and the altitude at transit.
Brightness
Visual magnitude from Schlyter’s phase-dependent formulas, including Saturn’s ring tilt, with a plain-language label.
Hourly table
Altitude and direction of every planet for each hour of the night, with the Sun’s twilight state in the second column.
Works anywhere
Polar summer (no darkness), the southern hemisphere and tropical sites are all handled; daylight saving comes from the browser’s time-zone data.
How to tell the planets apart
Planets shine with a steady light while stars twinkle, because a planet is a tiny disc rather than a point. All of them stay near the ecliptic, the Sun’s path, which runs through the zodiac constellations — so a bright, steady object in Leo, Virgo, Sagittarius or Taurus is usually a planet.
| Planet | Typical brightness | Colour / look | Where it can be |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venus | −3.9 to −4.9, the brightest “star” | Brilliant white, steady | Never more than 47° from the Sun: west after sunset or east before dawn |
| Jupiter | −1.7 to −2.9 | Bright cream-white, steady | Anywhere along the ecliptic; visible all night around opposition |
| Mars | +1.8 down to −2.9 at close oppositions | Distinctly orange-red | Anywhere along the ecliptic; brightness varies enormously |
| Saturn | +0.2 to +1.2 | Pale yellow, steady | Anywhere along the ecliptic; rings tilt changes its brightness |
| Mercury | −1 to +2 when visible | Pinkish, twinkles near the horizon | Never more than 28° from the Sun: low twilight only |
Oppositions, elongations and the best nights
The outer planets — Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — are best at opposition, when the Earth passes between them and the Sun: they rise at sunset, stay up all night and are at their brightest and closest. Jupiter reaches opposition about every 13 months (10 January 2026 in Gemini, then February 2027), Saturn every 12½ months, Mars every 26 months. In the months after opposition a planet is an evening object; in the months before, a morning one.
Mercury and Venus never stray far from the Sun. They are visible for a few weeks around each greatest elongation, in the west after sunset (eastern elongation) or the east before sunrise (western elongation). The card shows the elongation in degrees and whether it is east (evening) or west (morning); the calculator reports “too close to the Sun” when it is under 15°, and Mercury is a challenge even at 20°.
Planning the night
Use the hourly table together with the moon phase calculator: a bright Moon does not hide a planet, but it does wash out the fainter stars that help you find your way. The star chart plots the planets among the constellations for the same location and time, and the ISS pass predictor adds the one “moving star” that outshines them all for a few minutes.
Planets Visible Tonight FAQ
Which planets are visible tonight?
Press Tonight, now with your city selected. The summary line lists the visible planets and the cards say where and when to look.
What is the bright star in the west after sunset?
If it is brilliant and steady it is almost certainly Venus; check the Venus card, which shows its direction and altitude at your chosen time. A less dazzling cream-coloured object higher up is more likely Jupiter.
Why does the calculator say Venus is too close to the Sun?
Around superior and inferior conjunction Venus lies within about 15° of the Sun and sets or rises in bright twilight. It returns to view a few weeks later as an evening or morning object.
Can I see Mars tonight?
Mars is visible for most of each 26-month cycle but varies from a brilliant orange beacon near opposition to a faint reddish point near conjunction. The card gives its status, magnitude and times for your night.
How accurate are the planet positions?
Schlyter’s low-precision elements give positions within one or two arcminutes for Mercury to Saturn and a few arcminutes for Uranus and Neptune — far below what the eye can notice. Rise and set times are good to about a minute for a flat horizon.
Why does the night start at the evening of the chosen date?
Observers think of “tonight” as the evening through to dawn. The night of 10 January runs from sunset on the 10th to sunrise on the 11th; times before 12:00 in the table and in the “Positions at” box refer to that following morning.