Planet parade: Experts tips for Skygazers

“Unfortunately, you won't see how this huge planet was a perfectly arranged,” said Francine Jackson, Staff Astronom of LADD Observatory at Brown University in a telephone interview.

“Uranus and Neptune are telescopic or at least a binoculars, so they don't go outside and see one of them,” she said. “Uranus, you can see if you are in the middle of the forest when you have a very, very dark sky, but then you really have to know where it is and what you are looking for. “”

If you are interested in Skygazing and see some planets, your best betting Venus, Jupiter and Mars are. “These three are very easy to see,” said Jackson.

You should look here.

Venus

Start with Venus, because it should be easiest to see.

“After the sun and the moon, Venus is the brightest object you can see,” said Jackson.

“If you go outside and look in the southwest, you can't miss it.”

If you have a telescope or binoculars, it is all the better.

“If you want to do something that Venus find, look at it through a small telescope or even a good binoculars,” said Jackson. “You will notice that Venus shows beautiful phases, just like the moon. At the moment, because where it is positioned in relation to us, it looks like a very small crescent venus. Because it is so close to us … We see most of its dark side, similar to the moon. So you will see a beautiful crescent moon shape. “

Jupiter

JUptiter can be seen when you look straight up and southwest.

“If you go outside when it gets dark and look over your head … relatively close over head, you will see Jupiter,” said Jackson. “According to Venus, Jupiter is the brightest object in the sky.”

Mars

To find Mars, look east for the constellation Gemini and his two brightest stars that are the heads of the twins, Castor and Pollux.

“It will almost look like another head floating around, a kind of reddish -colored head. That's Mars, ”said Jackson. “Mars will be relatively bright. It will be brighter as a castor. “

Mercury and Saturn

Mercury and Saturn are relatively close to the western horizon, so according to Jackson it will be very difficult to see them.

“Mercury is always difficult to recognize, even though it is the best place for night observation at the moment, but it is still very difficult,” she said. “It is not too far away from Saturn, which we have been enjoying for months, but now unfortunately it is also on the way down. So they are both very low. “

February 28th is “probably the easiest to see,” she said. “You can use mercury to see Saturn that day because the two are relatively close. But to look over in the western horizon, you may have problems finding out what the planets are and what stars are, because none of them are really super bright. ”

Uranus and Neptune

It can be possible to see Uranus with a telescope or binoculars, but Neptune “is on the way down,” said Jackson.

“Unfortunately, Neptune is like mercury and Saturn and is very close to the western horizon, so it will be almost impossible,” she said. “It is so weak that even if you look at it, you probably would probably not recognize that it was a planet. It is so far away from us … it is really difficult to see. “

As for the weather conditions, if you plan to visit the night sky this week, you will not be the temperatures that you hold back. New England sees a relatively warm air until the working week goes through and stayed overnight overnight over the southern New England and in the 20s in the north.

This has been greatly improved from the past few weeks. What spoilers will play are the clouds with a handful of faster storms through the region. Most nights are partially cloudy this week for cloudy sky because our weather pattern remains active. On Monday evening, a bit widespread rainfall will be expected on Monday evening in Northern -Neuengland on Tuesday evening throughout the north of New England.

Another weak storm joins the picture late Wednesday evening, but probably stays until after midnight. The fourth system of the week will be a short clipper that starts on the weekend and demands a bad viewing party on Saturday evening.

From now on, the only ideal nights to see the sky are open, Wednesday evening before midnight and Friday evening, especially in the Western Mass., Connecticut and Rhode Island. Of course, you also want to try to get away from light pollution.

If you have missed this latest “Planet Parade”, don't worry. According to NASA, there will be another visibility for several planets at the end of August 2025, which are visible before sunrise before sunrise.

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Emily Sweeney can be reached at Emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow your @emysweeney And on Instagram @Emilysweeney22. Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahhan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahanthewatherman.