With the naked eye you can see these five bright planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – you just need to know when and where to look. They are visible for much of the year, except for short periods of time when they are too close to the Sun to observe. All of the planets will not normally be visible on a single night, however.
The night sky is filled with constellations, clusters of stars, the moon and planets. It provides an opportunity for star- and planet-gazers to observe celestial objects millions of light years away using locator tools and the naked eye. Since scientists and astronomers have accurately mapped the movements of all the planets we see in the sky, online websites provide free tools to identify a planet’s location in the sky during the nighttime hours.