I know nothing about the position of planets in the night sky, other than Venus the evening/morning star. Last night I saw a planet, way over to the left of the moon in the southern sky. I was easily identifiable as a planet because it didn't flicker. To my naked eye it looked basically like this: I grabbed a pair of binoculars for a closer look. Through the binoculars, it looked roughly like this: I'd assume the smaller dots are moons which means it's probably one of the outer gas giants. But I don't know which one. Both of these are drawn up in paint but represent roughly what I saw. The planet looked a kinda sandy yellow color.
Agree with Marso. The best view I ever had of Jupiter had all four Galilean moons lined up, two on each side. It was completely kick ass!
I envy you!! I live too close to the city lights to take up star gazing. The first chance I get, I'm determined to see Saturn with my own eyes.... through a powerful telescope.
Saturday morning I drove about a half hour out to Amish country to go stargazing . . . could see the Milky Way as clear as they show it in a planetarium, even with the bright crescent moon. I need to get a good telescope.
Yep definitely jupiter. Saturn and Venus are also up at the moment. Venus is the very very bright one in the evening in the west. All those complaining about light pollution... Light pollution only affects low contrast objects in the sky. The moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all high contrast objects that are not affected by light pollution much if at all. If i'm viewing the moon or planets I'll often do it with all the lights on from the comfort of the cellar doorway. If I'm looxing at stars or nebula or galaxies or similar, I'll do it from the bottom of the garden with all lights off after I have let my eyes get used to the dark for 40 mins or so
