Meanwhile, in the skies -- quite a show [View all]

Our solar system consists of eight planets. In order beginning with Mercury which is closest to the sun, the planets are:

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
(Pluto was declared a non-planet a few years ago)

Well, anyway, there's a marvelous display of planets going on right now continuing for next few days.

Go out just at or shortly after sunset and look into the SW sky. You will see a very bright object -- that's Venus. Now, look almost overhead where you will see another very bright object -- that's Jupiter. Now look into the Eastern sky where you'll see a reddish-orange object, that's Mars.

Notice they form an arc. Now, as it gets darker, follow the arc just slightly left and below Venus where you will see a dim but visible object -- that's Saturn.

So -- the planets are lined up from SW to E: Venus (naked-eye visible), Saturn (naked eye visible), Neptune (visible only with high power telescope), Uranus (near Jupiter, visible only with high power scope), Jupiter, Mars.

https://starwalk.space/en/news/what-is-planet-parade

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-rare-alignment-of-7-planets-is-about-to-take-place-in-the-sky

I was out with my 8-inch reflector last night -- 30 deg, no wind, froze my ass off.

-- Checked out Saturn -- 18mm Radian, 67X -- a bit of a disappointment now because the rings are edge-on toward Earth, so, all you see is a hint of the rings.

-- Found Neptune and Uranus -- 10mm Radian, 120X; also 9mm University Optics Ortho, 133X -- little blue and green dots

-- Jupiter -- 18mm Radian, 67X -- red spot and cloud bands visible; 3 moons to the left, 1 on the right (scope reverses the view).

-- Mars -- 10mm Radian, 120X -- mostly reddish-orange, no detail.