Planets

Tonight's sky and the wandering planets

Find Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn above your horizon, then step back to see why their paths sometimes reverse. Every position here is Almanac running in your browser.

Planets tonight

Follow five planets from sunset to sunrise. Choose a place and evening date, select a planet, and scrub through the night to find its altitude and direction.

Show the TypeScript

import { planetAltAz, planetEvents, planetIllumination } from '@openwaters/almanac';

const observer = { latitudeDeg: 48.5, longitudeDeg: -123 };
const start = new Date('2026-10-10T02:00:00Z');
const end = new Date('2026-10-10T15:00:00Z');
for (const planet of ['mercury', 'venus', 'mars', 'jupiter', 'saturn'] as const) {
  console.log(planet, planetAltAz(planet, start, observer));
  console.log(planetIllumination(planet, start).magnitude);
  console.log(planetEvents(planet, start, end, observer));
}

Why planets wander

Move through a few months of Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn. The view from above and the view from Earth share the same date: watch the line of sight turn as Earth passes the planet.

Nov 30, 2022Moving westward · retrograde

Earth and the planet keep orbiting the Sun in the same direction. As Earth overtakes the outer planet, our changing line of sight makes it appear to move westward for a while. Distances use astronomical units (1 AU is roughly the Earth–Sun distance); body markers are enlarged. The sky track uses equatorial coordinates, with east on the left.

Show the TypeScript

import { planetHeliocentricPosition, planetPosition } from '@openwaters/almanac';

// Sample daily across Mars's 2022–2023 retrograde interval.
for (let day = 0; day <= 181; day++) {
  const time = new Date(Date.UTC(2022, 8, 1 + day));
  console.log(time,
    planetHeliocentricPosition('earth', time),
    planetHeliocentricPosition('mars', time),
    planetPosition('mars', time));
}
// Sun-centered vectors are fixed J2000 equatorial coordinates in AU.
// Apparent positions are right ascension/declination in degrees of date.

The solar system in motion

Thirty years, six planets, one Sun. Scrub through the years or press Play to watch each planet circle at its own pace.

Jump to a planet parade

A planet parade is several planets sharing Earth's morning or evening sky. These dates show their orbital arrangement from above; the planets do not need to form a straight line in space. Local viewing dates and times vary.

Jan 1, 2026

20262056

Look down on the solar system from north of its orbital plane. The dates and orbital directions come from Almanac; orbit spacing and body sizes are schematic so the inner planets stay readable. Playback advances one year every ten seconds. Mercury laps the Sun many times while Saturn takes almost thirty years to circle once.

Mercury: 0.46 AU
Venus: 0.73 AU
Earth: 0.98 AU
Mars: 1.43 AU
Jupiter: 5.21 AU
Saturn: 9.52 AU

Show the TypeScript

import { planetHeliocentricPosition } from '@openwaters/almanac';

const time = new Date('2026-01-01T00:00:00Z');
for (const planet of ['mercury', 'venus', 'earth', 'mars', 'jupiter', 'saturn'] as const) {
  console.log(planet, planetHeliocentricPosition(planet, time));
}
// Sun-centered vectors in AU, in the fixed J2000 equatorial frame.
// Update the date to move all six planets together.