Planet visibility

I have to keep going outside during the evenings to get firewood or to refill the cat food bowl from outside storage. Even though I live relatively close to a built-up area, the stars are quite visible here. It's something that somehow fascinates me, and having spent a few months of my life living in the middle of cities, it's something I don't take for granted.

Anyway if you're living in the northern hemisphere in Europe, now is a very good time to view Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn because they're all incredibly bright and visible at the moment.

Venus and Jupiter are close together and pretty much unmissable since Venus shines dazzlingly brightly. They both set towards the west during the early evening. To tell them apart, Venus is lower down and brighter than Jupiter.

In the east, high above the horizon you can see Mars during the evenings as well - It's a big bright orange point in the sky. If you wait until late evening you can see Saturn rising in the east too, but that's not as bright or as visible as the other planets and easy to mistake for one of the brighter stars.

Why not go take a look?