Today's Sky

Montage of planets This montage of images taken by the Voyager spacecraft of the planets and four of Jupiter's moons is set against a false-color Rosette Nebula with Earth's moon in the foreground. Image courtesy of NASA

2009 Night Sky Events

To keep up to date on the phases of the Moon and the positions of the planets, as well as everything else in the night sky, download the free planetarium software Cartes du Ciel at this link.

Moon Phases (click here for the US Navel Observatory Moon phase calendar)

New Moon - October 18

First Quarter - October 26

Full Moon - November 2

Last Quarter - November 9

New Moon - November 16

Planets (Positions current as of March 1, 2009)

Mercury - Not currently visible.

Venus - Look East just before sunrise.

Earth - Look Down!

Mars - Look East before sunrise, it is currently in the constellation Gemeni.

Jupiter - Look SSE just after sunset.

Saturn - is not visible right now because it is near opposition.

Uranus - Uranus is visible to the naked eye but only with very dark skies and if you know exactly where to look (refer to star charts or planetarium software for location).

Neptune - Neptune is visible only with the aid of a telescope (refer to star charts or planetarium software for location).

Pluto and Charon - not visible to the naked eye (refer to star charts or planetarium software).