How can an observer from earth from the earth distinguish the planets from stars?

Answer 1

On any given night, with the naked eye, its pretty difficult to tell them apart, however...

* Planets don't twinkle.

* Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are all pretty bright, usually brighter than most other things around. At the moment, Venus is the FIRST object to be visible as the sun sets, as it is so bright.

* Planets move around from night to night. The word "planet" has a greek route, meaning "wandering star"! So they change their position relative to the fixed stars.

* Look through a telescope or binoculars and they are round, whereas stars will just be points of light.

I recommend you download stellarium: its free and will show you where to find the planets for your location and time. (link below)

Have fun!

Cheers,
Ben

Answer 2

Without the help of star charts, there are two main ways that you can spot a planet in a starry sky. First, they usually don't twinkle, because their light is coming from a disk and is less affected by turbulence in our atmosphere than point sources like stars. Secondly, despite what someone above said, they tend to be _brighter_ than even the brightest stars most of the time. The only exceptons are the outer planets, Saturn and beyond. Normally Saturn is pretty bright, but its rings are closing and it's going to be a bit dimmer for the next couple of years. Uranus and Neptune really need binoculars to be seen. But Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter tend to be the brightest things in the sky.

Right now, Venus and Saturn have pretty much disappeared into the Sun's glow. Jupiter rules the night sky in the south, brighter than anything else in the sky. Mars is rising around 3 a.m. and is slightly brighter than Aldebaran, a star it's currently close to. It will grow brighter over the fall and move into the evening sky, reaching opposition on Christmas Eve.

Several people mentioned the planets' movement as a clue, but that's of little practical value because the planets move too slowly for their movement to be detected without careful study of a period of time.

Answer 3

Firstly, planets tend not to twinkle like stars do, since they are not point sources of light like stars. Secondly, and this is what led to them being called 'planets' in the first place, they move. If you watch them over several nights or weeks you'll see them move among the stars. The word planet is derived from the greek for wandering star.

Answer 4

You can see planets through a telescope when they are close enough.
If you want a map go to--maps of planets and stars--and check out some of the websites.

Answer 5

stars are bright, planets are not