2023 Guide to the Night Sky: A month-by-month guide to exploring the skies above Britain and Ireland

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There are some fantastic online resources that can save you time and jumpstart your astronomy education. Here are a few of my favorite tools for finding out what’s visible, when, and where to find it: If you have a telescope, challenge yourself to find not only the planet itself but also its details and features. Can you find its largest moons? Its gas bands? Its famous great Red Spot? Saturn Venus will reach its greatest eastern elongation around 4 June and its greatest western elongation around 23 October. In and around these times, Venus will be easily visible as an evening and morning “star” respectively.

During November the creamy-yellow dot of Saturn will first appear in the lower part of the southern sky after dusk. Improving morning planet, best at the end of the month. There is a waning crescent Moon nearby on 12 July. Ninth magnitude comet C/2020 V2 ZTF starts July 2023 near Jupiter and Uranus. Starting at mag. 9.4, it’s expected to reach 9.1 mid-September, thereafter fading again. Credit: Pete Lawrence Pluto is too tiny to see with the naked eye. You’ll need a fairly powerful telescope and some dark skies to get a view of it.

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In 2023, there are two good weekends near a new moon where you can try and “run” the Messier Marathon: March 18/19 and March 25/26. On these nights, you’ll want to plan a trip to a very dark-sky spot, bring your telescope, and plan to stay up all night gazing deep into the universe. March 29 – Makemake at Opposition Greatest western elongation on 22 September with the bright planet rising 100 minutes before sunrise. It’s been fun trying to spot the dwarf planets this year, right? Let’s try again: dwa

Bright morning planet reaching its highest position under darkness from mid-month. The Moon is close on 4/5 September. The full Moon on 29 September is the Harvest Moon for 2023, the closest full Moon to the vernal equinox on 23 September Credit: Jim Kruger / Getty Images Degrees (measuring the sky): The sky is 360 degrees all the way around, which means roughly 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. It's easy to measure distances between objects: Your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky, while a finger covers about one degree. As darkness falls, the now inappropriately named Summer Triangle remains visible high in the southwest. November 19- December 24, Geminids: This awesome annual shower can produce up to 120 meteors per hour! Best seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the Geminids are 100% worth staying up late to see. In 2023, this shower is expected to peak the night of December 12, which is close to a new moon—that means dark skies and excellent viewing conditions. Meteors should be visible all night long and at their best around 2 am.Finally, Venus appears to have phases like the Moon. Once you find it, you can take note of the planet’s current phase. Mars So when you do find the time, you'll need to know what's visible in the night sky tonight, and the best things to look out for when stargazing. Poorly positioned evening planet, best seen mid-month, but low in the west-northwest as the sky darkens.

Saturn is a morning object, but it is not well-placed and is unlikely to be seen, so not worth trying to view. Stars are the brightest objects in our solar system, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to spot Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune through a telescope. The brightest planets are visible with the naked eye, but if you are just starting out on your planet spotting adventures make sure you look through a telescope so that you are sure of what you are seeing. Which Planets are Visible Now? Venus shines brightly in the sky and can be stunning to observe. Keep an eye out for it on the following dates: March 1:Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Both planets have their closest approach in the sky. Venus will continue to climb higher throughout the month each evening. Jupiter will no longer be visible in the morning sky by month’s end. Using binoculars, the dwarf planet Ceres can be seen.The Square of Pegasus is in the south during the evening and forms the body of the winged horse. The square is marked by 4 stars of 2nd and 3rd magnitude, with the top left hand one actually forming part of the constellation Andromeda. The sides of the square are almost 15 degrees across, about the width of a clentched fist, but it contains few stars visibe to the naked eye. If you can see 5 then you know that the sky is both dark and transparent! Three stars drop down to the right of the bottom right hand corner of the square marked by Alpha Pegasi, Markab. A brighter star Epsilon Pegasi is then a little up to the right, at 2nd magnitude the brightest star in this part of the sky. A little further up and to the right is the Globular Cluster M15. It is just too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but binoculars show it clearly as a fuzzy patch of light just to the right of a 6th magnitude star. In the western sky on Tuesday evening, Nov. 28, the very bright star Vega in the constellation of Lyra the Harp will be descending the western sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night) The conjunction itself occurs when the two share the same right ascension, a coordinate in space which is similar to longitude here on the Earth. Since Mercury will be reducing its distance from Earth during November, the planet will diminish in brightness from magnitude -0.6 to -0.47, wane in illuminated phase, and grow in apparent disk size in a telescope — ending the month just days away from its greatest eastern elongation and showing a 72%-lit, 6.2 arc-seconds-wide football shape. Observing in November 2023? Again Jupiter is the king of the planets tonight. Superbly placed, reaching opposition on 3 November. Attains 50º altitude when due south. A rare lunar occultation of Venus can be seen during the day on 9 November 2023. Venus will be showing a 58%-lit phase and appear 1/90th the apparent size of the Moon. Credit: Pete Lawrence