Solar System Observing

Articles about how to understand, find and see solar system objects including planets, the Moon, the Sun, asteroids, meteors, and comets with binoculars, telescopes, and the naked eye.

Guide to Observing Mars in 2025

January 1, 2025 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

An image of Mars captured by Damian Peach in June 2018.

The planet Mars is one of the most interesting planets to observe with a small telescope, but also one of the most difficult. The planet only gets close enough to Earth to give up much detail just once every 780 days (about two years and two months), and when it does make an apparition, it still appears relatively small compared to Jupiter or Saturn. But observing Mars is worth the effort. It’s the only planet to reveal an appreciable amount of surface detail in a small telescope, and it also features occasional surprises such as dust storms and local fogs and cloud banks.

Seeing Mars takes a little practice, however, as well as the right tools for the job. This guide will help you understand what you can see on the surface of Mars, especially near the opposition of January 15-16, 2025. And it will help you get the best view of this remarkable world with a telescope and a few essential accessories [Read more…] about Guide to Observing Mars in 2025

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A Guide to Observing Jupiter in 2024

November 25, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

The planet Jupiter is always one of the brightest objects in the night sky. It’s brighter than any star, and is only outshone by the planet Venus and the Moon, and, very rarely, by Mars and Mercury (when it’s too close to the Sun to observe). Jupiter reaches a position for optimum viewing in a telescope once every 13 months, roughly, and it makes its latest closest approach to Earth on December 7, 2024 at 21h Universal Time when the planet appears in the horns of the celestial bull, Taurus. A couple of months before and after this date, Jupiter is in perfect position for viewing with a small telescope, or even a pair of binoculars. You can’t miss it: the planet is by far the brightest object in the eastern sky as night gets underway in the northern hemisphere from now through March and April of 2025. The visible face of Jupiter reveals so many interesting features in a small telescope that the planet is a favorite target for new and experienced stargazers [Read more…] about A Guide to Observing Jupiter in 2024

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Comet Update | Aurora, Aurora Everywhere

October 15, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events, Solar System

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) in the western sky after sunset on Oct. 14, 2024 from Calgary, Canada. Single image captured with a Nikon Z7ii camera and 70-200mm lens at f/4, ISO1600, 3s exposure, cropped. The comet’s tail spans about 15 degrees; a small anti-tail is also visible in this image. Image credit and copyright: Brian Ventrudo.

“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen”, said V.I. Lenin. That, in a way, is what October feels like for stargazers and skywatchers who have enjoyed wave after wave of auroral displays, massive sunspots across the solar disk, and a bright, long-tailed comet in the morning and evening skies [Read more…] about Comet Update | Aurora, Aurora Everywhere

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Get Ready for a Bright Comet!

August 30, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in June 2024 captured with an 8″ telescope. Image credit: ‘C. Messier’/Wikipedia under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

The comet lives! At least so far…

In July, some astronomers suspected the promising comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was on its way to breaking into pieces and fading from view. But as the comet became lost in the Sun’s glare from Earth, satellite images showed it apparently still intact. This offers hope that this little interloper from the Oort Cloud will put on an appealing – and possibly spectacular – display in late September and October 2024 [Read more…] about Get Ready for a Bright Comet!

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Guide to Observing Saturn in 2024

August 20, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

This composite image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 6 June 2018, shows the ringed planet Saturn with six of its 62 known moons.

Many casual observers get hooked on amateur astronomy after a first look at Saturn through a telescope. More than a few have looked through my small refractor on a night of good seeing and asked of Saturn, “Is it real?”

Oh, it’s real, all right. And incredibly beautiful… the color, the proportions, the apparent 3D perspective of this grand icy world. It is arguably the finest sight accessible with a small telescope. The planet reaches opposition on the September 7-8, 2024 and will remain bright and large in a telescope over the next few months. Here’s how to find it and see it in a small telescope.

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