You.

Hi, I'm Shannon Silverman, astrophysicist at the Clay center.

And welcome to Almost Heavens.

Here in West Virginia, we're just about halfway between the North Pole and the equator.

That means we are in the perfect spot to view everything the northern skies have to offer, and even a little of the southern skies to.

At this time of the year.

We have the opportunity to see several planets all at once in the night sky.

For bright planets, in particular, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all easily visible and will be until sometime in March.

The planet Venus is often called Earth sister or twin, and this planet is by fa the brightest thing in our sky.

Aside from the sun and the moon, just after the sun disappears below the horizon, look to the southwes and you'll be able to find Venus even with the rest of the sky still relatively bright.

Venus will still shine noticeably, and as the sky darkens, Venus will only stand out more and more.

Jupiter i the next easiest planet to see.

Being the fourth brightest object in the sky after the sun, moon and Venus, outshining even the brightest star of the night sky, Sirius.

Because it's so bright, it's relatively easy to find just by looking around the night sky.

But we can actually use the constellation Orion to locate it.

Orion is a bright, distinctive constellation on its own.

With its hourglass shape and the three diagonal stars of its belt.

If we look north and slightly to the west of Orion, we can find Jupiter.

This is a large planet the largest of our solar system.

So despite its distance from us, it shines a bright yellow white in the sky.

The last two planets, easily visible to the eye, are a little more difficult to find as they blend in with the stars.

Fortunately, right now Saturn is near something bright, so it's relatively easy to find until late February.

Look for Venus.

Saturn is currently near Venus, but unfortunately a little lower on the horizon, closer to the sun, which means the window for viewing it is small.

By mid to late February, the opportunity to see Saturn will close.

But if you miss it, don't worry.

Unlike Venus, it'll be eas to see Saturn again soon enough as it will reappear in late July.

Mars is the last of the planet easily visible to just our eye, and is a bit fainter than Saturn at its current position.

We can locate Mars using Beetlejuice and another bright star in Orion called Rigel.

Rigel is Orion's left foot, and if you imagine a diagonal line moving from Rigel to Beetlejuice and then beyond to the northeast you'll find Castor and Pollux.

From there, Mars is nearby, slightly closer to Orion than the Twin Stars are.

Thank you for joining.

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Until next time.