SkyEye

The Calendar

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for 'wanderer'. Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies, including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun Cancer → Leo

Mercury Leo → Sextans → Leo

Mercury sinks quickly in the evening sky and is gone from view early in the month for northern hemisphere observers. It lasts a little longer for those watching from southern latitudes but the tiny planet eventually disappears as it heads for inferior conjunction on 26 August.

Venus Orion → Gemini → Cancer

Lingering high in the dawn sky as seen from the northern hemisphere, the morning star is rapidly losing altitude above the eastern horizon for southern latitudes.

Mars Cancer → Leo

The red planet was at conjunction with the Sun late last month and is lost to view in solar glare this month. It reappears in the morning sky in October.

Jupiter Virgo

Jupiter sets by mid-evening. Look for it in the west as the sky darkens.

Saturn Ophiuchus

The ringed planet is easier to observe than its neighbour Jupiter. Southern hemisphere observers get the best views but planet spotters in the northern hemisphere also have a chance to see Saturn before it sets around midnight.

Uranus Pisces

Uranus rises mid-evening and is aloft for the rest of the night.

Neptune Aquarius

A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system and this is the best time to look because Neptune is at opposition early next month, meaning it's at its closest and brightest. Some observers in the southern hemisphere will see the Moon occult Neptune on 9 August.