The Planets This Month

distorted-scale top-down view · positions from JPL Keplerian elements
Heliocentric — orbital positions (distances compressed)
Ring spacing is not to scale — equalised so every planet stays visible. Angles (heliocentric longitudes) are real. The dashed line is the Sun–Earth axis; planets on the amber side are in the evening sky, on the cyan side the morning sky.
From Earth — what's in the sky
Exact geocentric view. The outer ring is a clock: a planet's angle from the Sun ≈ the time it is highest in the sky — evening (east) → midnight opposite the Sun (up all night) → morning (west). Grey wedge = lost in the Sun's glare.
Speed
Span
Scale
Visibility: Evening sky (east of Sun) Morning sky (west of Sun) Up much of the night (near opposition) Hidden in Sun's glare · 1× = 1 day/sec · numbers are elongation from the Sun

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