The brightest planets in February's night sky: How to see them (and when)

You'll be able to easily see four planets in the February evening sky, and with any luck you'll be able to raise that number to five during the final week of the month.

This month, Venus reaches its absolute pinnacle of brilliance, as well as soaring about as high into the western evening sky as it ever does, especially early in the month. In its own right, Jupiter is itself quite dazzling, although compared to Venus it shines only one-tenth as bright. After attaining opposition with the sun last month, Mars is now moving away from Earth and consequently is now gradually fading down. It still remains an eye-catching sight, however, thanks to its proximity to the Twin Stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor.

Finally, during the last week of February, Mercury and Saturn will pass each other, low in the western evening twilight. Prior to Feb. 24, Saturn will be easier to see because it will appear higher, but after their conjunction, it will be Mercury that will become higher and easier to see while Saturn disappears into the sunset fires.

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Read more: Best telescopes for seeing planets in 2025

In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them.

Be sure to check out our best telescopes for viewing planets guide and our more general guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes. If you're interested in taking your own impressive skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.

Mercury

Mercury — passes superior conjunction with the sun on Feb. 9 and enters the evening sky. By Feb. 19, only 9 degrees from the sun, Mercury can be seen at magnitude -1.2 with binoculars 20 minutes after sunset, about 3 degrees up and 15 degrees left of due west. Thereafter, Mercury gains nearly 1 degree in altitude each day with respect to the setting sun and quickly becomes a naked-eye object. It will pass a much dimmer Saturn on Feb. 24. Mercury will reach its greatest elongation, 18 degrees east of the sun, on March 7. That will be the year's best evening apparition of Mercury for mid-northern observers.

Venus

Venus — the resplendent evening star attains a stunning maximum brilliance of magnitude -4.9 on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14). At a really dark site, can you see your shadow cast by Venus on snow-covered ground or a white sheet? Viewed from mid-northern latitudes, this lamp-like world appears about 40 degrees above the horizon at sundown — almost its highest ever possible. Although Venus only declines to about 32 degrees high at sunset by the end of the month, the interval between sunset and Venus-set shrinks from about 3.75 to 2.75 hours. Telescopes show Earth's sister planet swelling to an apparent diameter wider than Jupiter, while its phase thins dramatically from 37% to 15% lit. Soon after sunset on Feb. 1, direct your attention to the southwest sky to view a striking celestial tableau: A slender waxing crescent moon and hovering about 2.5 degrees to its upper right will be Venus

Mars

Mars — fades from magnitude -1.0 to -0.3 in February, a loss of half of its light. But it's still striking, positioned high in the east in Gemini at nightfall, forming a triangle with the "Twin Stars" Pollux and Castor. During February the gulf between Mars and Earth opens from 63 to 80 million miles (103 to 129 million km) and February will be the last chance for small telescopes to show much in the way of any surface markings. The waxing gibbous moon will sit about 2.5 degrees to the upper right of the red planet on the evening of Feb. 9.

Jupiter

Jupiter — shines very high in the south during evening twilight for observers at mid-northern latitudes. The big planet will resume direct (eastward) motion through the stars on Feb. 4. It fades slightly during February, from magnitude -2.5 to -2.3, and through a telescope its apparent disk size dwindles slightly. Jupiter sets after 3:00 a.m. at the start of February but around 1:30 a.m. at month's end. On the evening of Feb. 6, you can take note of brilliant Jupiter sitting about 5 degrees below and to the left of the moon.

Saturn

Saturn — the ringed planet, can be spotted low in the west-southwest for the first half of February, but thereafter it's heading down into the glow of sunset and becomes invisible by the end of the month. About 45 minutes after sunset on the evening of Feb. 24, look very low near the west-southwest horizon to see Mercury engaged in a relatively close conjunction with Saturn. Mercury shines at magnitude -1.2 and Saturn will sit about 1.5 degrees to its left, but at magnitude +1.1 appears only 1/9 as bright. You might not be able to see it against the bright twilight sky, so binoculars will be most beneficial. But this last evening view sets the stage for Saturn's dawn reemergence a month from now, and the amazing narrowing of the rings to edgewise.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications.

Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.