You can see five planets this month without the aide of a telescope. Two of them can be seen in the evening, and three more just before dawn.

This week Venus hangs as a lantern, high in the western sky. Its crescent shape can be seen from just before dusk until about three hours after sunset. On the evening of February 27, Venus will be just above and to the right of a three-day old crescent moon.

Also this week, Saturn will rise in the eastern sky about 1-1/2 hours after sunset. By March 8, it will be visible from dusk to dawn. On March 10, Saturn will be seen above a full moon.

Toward month’s end, Jupiter and Mercury will be visible with binoculars, just above the east-southeastern horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise. It won’t be an easy sighting, but well-worth the effort.

The fifth planet is Mars, an even more difficult sighting that Jupiter and Mercury. If you can locate Jupiter, you should be able to find Mars to the lower right less than an hour before sunrise, with nothing more than binoculars or a small telescope.

Learn more about how to spot these five planets in this Space.com article: Doorstep Astronomy: Spot 5 Planets

Image Credit: fdecomite on flickr (cc)

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