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Planet Viewing
Mercury
☿The Sun’s closest planet is in the evening sky in early January, late April into early May (its best evening apparition of 2022), August, and December. It appears in the morning sky in late February through mid March, June, and October (best morning showing).
Venus
♀The brilliant planet starts 2022 as the Evening Star, but vanishes from view within days as it crosses between Earth and Sun. It will return, as the Morning Star, by the middle of January, and will stay in the morning sky until September. It then vanishes behind the Sun, and it won’t reemerge—back in the evening sky— until December.
Mars
♂Orange Mars spends the first half of 2022 low in the pre-dawn sky before climbing higher later on. It’s at its best in early December, which it aligns opposite the Sun and outshines everything else except the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.
Jupiter
♃The largest planet in the solar system, and usually the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus, shines at its best in early autumn, when it is brightest and is in the sky all night. It spends most of the year in Pisces.
Saturn
♄ The ringed planet shines brightest this year in August, as it moves through Capricornus.
Uranus
♅The seventh planet is at its brightest in early November of 2022, when it barely reaches naked-eye visibility. Most skywatchers will need optical aid to spot it, though.
Neptune
Neptune will shine at its brightest for 2022 in mid-September, in the constellation Aquarius. It is far too faint, however, to see without strong binoculars or a telescope.