Look Up

Five planets are bright enough to find with your eyes alone. Binoculars bring Jupiter's moons, the phases of Venus and the distant worlds within reach.

Planets are the "wandering stars". They shift position from month to month, vanish and return, and are often the brightest points in the sky. But which one is that? And when and where do you look?

Look Up: Planets for Beginners answers those questions step by step, with no telescope and no experience needed. It shows you how to tell a planet from a star at a glance, find each one, know what it should look like, and keep a record of what you see.

Inside you'll find:

• Chapters on Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus Uranus and Neptune with finder charts


• How to watch Jupiter's four moons change places from night to night, and a quick method for identifying them


• The ecliptic, the planets' "highway", and why planets come and go


• Using the Moon as a signpost, plus planet meetings and rare events


• Dates and tables for 2027 and 2028 and a month-by-month planet calendar, calculated for this edition


• A twelve-session observing programme with printable log pages


• A glossary, resources and answers to the questions beginners ask

This is the Southern Hemisphere Edition. It is written for observers at about 20° to 45° south, where the planets cross the northern half of the sky. Directions, altitudes and every diagram are drawn for that view.

Take a pair of ordinary binoculars outside tonight. Look up. Find the planets.

Part of the Look Up series.