searching for planets

[mrgumbooks]

Hi this is my first post here. I have a Skywatcher 100 and would like to know which  planets are easy to find at this time of month, where to find them and which lens to use, I have a 25mm 10mm and a Barlow lens

[Ouroboros]

Hello and welcome. You're in for a treat. At present and for about a month there are five planets visible in a line in the morning toward the eastern and southerly sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. If you've downloaded a planetarium app like stelarium that's one of the best ways to locate them. The magazines Sky at Night or Astronomy Now will tell you precisely where to look too.

[northcanadian]

Welcome to the forum.  Stellarium is an excellent free download program which will show you where the planets are at any given time and date. 

Cheers

Roger

[Ouroboros]

I forgot to post this link to a BBC page on where to look.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35362733

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[rockystar]

Welcome.

Jupiter is very easy to find late in the evening sky (from about 11:30 it gets to a good height), try your 10mm on that (I wouldn't bother barlowing your 10 on Jupiter. You should be able to see some moons and the bands.

All the others are early morning planets. Venus is on it's way behind the sun. Mars will be better placed in may, as will Saturn - you can try the Barlow with these 2. Mercury is a tricky little beast, I've never seen it through a scope, it doesn't get very high.

Look in the same direction as the sun and moon rise, the planets raise from the same location.

Have fun and good hunting - as above download stellarium to see when best to see them.

[mrgumbooks]

Thanks for the info. I will check out the early morning planets. Jupiter will have to wait until the weekend! hope it's a clear sky. Joseph

[billyharris72]

Welcome!

As others have said, Jupiter is the easiest to see at the moment, reaching a good height before midnight. I've been doing most of my planetary observing at around 5am at the moment, as there is more up (Jupiter is still good, and you can get a better view of Mars and Saturn, with a chance at Venus and Mercury also).

That said, this is not a great time for Mars - it's still pretty far away and will get better ove the next couple of months. By around April it should give much more satisfying views.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Im not a morning person usually........so i'll probably miss the 5 planets in a line.