See the Planets!

This February is a great month to see some of the other planets in our solar system. You can see them without any tools at all and can start to observe some details with even a simple pair of binoculars. Planets look like very bright stars in the night sky. The best way to tell if you are looking at a planet or a star is to watch the object for a few minutes to see if it twinkles. Starlight seems to twinkle as it passes through our atmosphere but the light coming from planets is actually reflected light from our own sun. This means that planets don't twinkle like stars do. Right now there are 5 different planets visible in the Reno sky. Mercury is the first. It will be hard to see because it is mostly up during the daytime but if you get up early enough you can spot it just above the mountains right before the sun comes up. Venus is next, you can find Venus by looking for a very bright star just after the sun goes down. It is often the first star like object to be visible after sunset. Mars will be visible starting at about 7:15 with Jupiter and Saturn following at about 10:30. Take some time to see if you can spot a planet soon!