February 16, 2025: Seven planets are not visible after sunset at month’s end. The sky is too bright when they are visible.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Evening Planet Parade
Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars have been visible in a planet parade in the evening sky since late December. Dimmer distant worlds Uranus and Neptune have been visible through a binocular, especially when the bright moon is not in the sky with them.
Saturn is slowly disappearing into bright twilight, tonight setting 101 minutes after sunset.
Reality Check
Prognosticators, especially non-sky watchers, are calling for the visibility of seven planets simultaneously at month’s end. Simply, no!
For example, on the evening of the 26th, at 30 minutes after sundown, four planets – Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, and Venus – are above the western horizon. Saturn is over 4° above the horizon with bright Mercury 3.0° to the Ring Wonder’s upper right. Neptune is over 12° above the horizon and 6.0° to Mercury’s upper left. Venus is higher, 25° up in the sky.
On this target night, Saturn sets only 55 minutes after sunset, less than an ideal celestial location.
Bright Twilight Obscures Saturn and Neptune
The sky is too bright to see Saturn and Neptune, even with optical aid. Additionally, Saturn is low in the sky where the atmosphere dims and blurs celestial bodies. We see that effect with an orange sun that sometimes looks flattened when it is near the horizon. Simply, Saturn and Neptune are not visible.
Mercury is bright, but a binocular is needed to see it through the brightly lit sky during evening twilight.
Venus is easily visible at this time. Look for it.
At this hour, Jupiter and Mars are visible without optical assistance. The Jovian Giant is high in the south, while the Red Planet is over halfway up in the east-southeast. With Venus, that makes three planets visible to the unaided eye and Mercury is seen through a binocular.
Uranus is visible through a binocular beginning 90 minutes after sunset and after Mercury sets. Like Neptune, Uranus is too faint to be seen earlier, even with an optical assist.
That’s the view. Seven planets are in the sky, but all of them are not visible at the end of February, even with optical assistance.
Briefly, Mercury Replaces Saturn in Evening Planet Parade
A week later, Mercury replaces Saturn in the evening planet parade for several nights, but then it retreats again into brighter evening twilight, leaving Venus, Jupiter, and Mars (and Uranus through a binocular).