Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

🔭 What's up this week:

Shortly after sunset look for Jupiter very low to the western horizon. Above it, Venus shines very bright. Mars is dimmer and reddish, higher in the sky. And in the pre-dawn, look for yellowish Saturn near the eastern horizon.

March 15, 2023 night sky snapshot

What’s up in the night sky: March 2023

Our monthly feature focuses on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, including eclipses, supermoons, meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, and more.

Your current night sky view

Want a map of tonight's sky for your location? We recommend Stellarium, available on the web and for mobile devices.

Night Sky Toolkits

The next generation of space explorers

Astronomy for Beginners

An introduction to backyard astronomy for amateur stargazers.

Lunar surface through a small telescope

How to Pick the Best Beginner Telescope

Picking out your first telescope can be overwhelming. This easy-to-follow guide will help you find the best telescope that you'll actually use.

The Milky Way at Mono Lake

Night Sky Photography for Beginners

An introduction to full-sky astrophotography using a digital camera.

Geminids meteor shower

Quadrantid meteor shower 2023: How to watch

Here's everything you need to know about the annual Quadrantid meteor shower and how to watch it.

Moon Toolkits

Moon Features You Can See From Earth (16:9 landscape)

Moon features you can see from Earth

What can you see on the Moon tonight? This guide from The Planetary Society will help you identify some features.

The Moon's Changing Size

What is a supermoon?

What is a supermoon, and why does it happen?

The Moon from Apollo 12

The Moon, preserving Earth's origin story

The Moon is the only world besides Earth ever visited by humans. By studying it, scientists can piece together Earth’s origin story.

The Moon seen from its orbital plane

Can the Moon be upside down?

When you think about how the Moon looks in the night sky, you might never have considered that it looks different to people in other parts of the world. But really, perspective is all relative.