How come we can see the planets early in the morning??

Question

i really wonder cuz i seen one at 2:00 in the morning when i was going to Atlantic city.

Answer 1

The planets orbit the Sun, so their position in the sky is always changing.

Mercury and Venus are not as far from the Sun as Earth, so they're always quite close to the Sun in the sky. Depending on which part of their orbit they are in, you might see them just before dawn or just after sunset.

The rest of the planets are farther from the Sun, but depending where they are in relation to the Earth, they are obscured during the day by the bright sky. Their position is complicated because the Earth is always moving too.

But all of the naked-eye planets fall close to an invisible line called "the ecliptic" ... the "path" the Sun moves on. If you figure out where the ecliptic is at at night (it moves during the year as the seasons change) you will find any visible planets along that line.

The easiest way to do that is to use a computer astronomy program that shows the ecliptic. It's position only changes slowly, just as the Sun's position changes slowly during the seasons.

Right now (October 2006) most of the naked-eye planets are too close to the Sun to see at night.

Answer 2

What is the difference between 10 pm and 2 am. They are both in the night. It is only humans that have put an "evening" and "morning" tag on them. The planets do not know them.

As someone pointed out, you can see Venus in the daytime if you know exactly where to look.

Jupiter and Mars can be seen in the daytime with binoculars, and a good telescope will see most of the brighter stars in the daytime.

Night and day and the time are only things that are affecting you. The planets don't care.

Answer 3

Venus is often called the Morning Star and Evening Star because these are the two times when it is most visable.

Due to its cloud cover it has very high albedo (it reflects alot of light), it is often visable when the sun is rising and setting. Venus is usually in the same part of the sky as the sun at these times.

Mercury is visable, but it can be extremely tough to spot in the morning.

Answer 4

Hi. The planets further from the Sun than Earth can be seen anytime. Even those closer to the Sun, especially Venus, can be seen in daylight if you know where to look.

Answer 5

Uh, surely it was night in Atlantic City at 2am. The planets can be seen at any time of night depending on where they are in their orbit.

Answer 6

Actually you can see some at night. There are two that only show up at dawn and at dusk which are Venus and Mercury.