Easiest planet to see in telescope?

Question

Easiest planet to see in telescope?

Answer 1

well,  venus is the brightest and can be seen even without a telescope at sunrise+sunset. Mars is also easy to see and without a telescope it looks like a red star. Satern's rings are easy to see with a really good telescope.

Answer 2

Jupiter.  It was observed by Galileo with his first telescope.

Saturn's rings are also apparent in even a fairly small telescope.  Venus will show phases, but nothing else.  Mars is tiny and difficult.  None of the other planets will show any features.

Answer 3

jupiter is the easiest to see now. saturn and mars are setting early, and aren't that close right now. jupiter is up most of the night, and is close to earth. venus is too close to the sun to be seen. besides the moon, currently jupiter is the brightest object in the sky. it rises towards the south.

and jupiter wasn't first seen by galileo. he was the first to see its four largest moons... not the actual planet. the planet had been seen since the ancients. they didn't look at it through a telescope, but they knew it was there. they also knew of 3 other planets:

-Mercury

-Venus

-Saturn

venus's moon like shapes (like cresent  gibous and full positions) were first noted by galaleo, as well as saturn's rings which he thought were two companion planets, and he first described them as "ears". it wasn't until the late 17th century that they were classified as rings.

Answer 4

I don't know what would stop you from turing your telescope to see Venus. It is the nearest planet to us. Mercury for that matter. I can't remember the time of year but when I was little I got up around 4 in the morning and looked in the east sky, its fairly bright, bright enough to see. Its not the time of year to really look at venus though and saturn is out in the early evening, if I remember correctly.

Technically Jupiter is the easiest to see. Last night I took out my telescope and looked at it and I could clearly see two bright objects (tiny) right next to it. That and it appeared that the light was reflecting off other bodies near by creating what looked like cresant moon like phases.

Answer 5

Right now, Jupiter!!!  :-)

Answer 6

Point it straight down and you can't miss it.

Mars & Jupiter I have seen with binoculars.

Answer 7

Earth.....duh

Answer 8

at the moment, jupiter.

i watched io transit jupiter saturday night. it was really cool.

later: you can't see venus right now. just about any telesscope will show saturn's rings. i can see it as a tiny oval in powerful binoculars.

Answer 9

Right now the easiest would be Jupiter - it's the very bright star-like object that is low in the east in evening, high in th south toward the middle of the night.

Answer 10

right now it's jupiter  SOOOO  hug in it i am shocked every-night !!!!!

Answer 11

http://www.stellarium.org/

This is freeware star chart you can use to find what you want.  Tell it where you are and it will tell you what you see.  Enjoy