National Astronomy Week 2025 sees a spectacular line-up of planets in the evening sky, with the Moon moving past them in turn as it waxes from a slim crescent phase to nearly full. Even without a telescope you’ll be able to spot Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars, star clusters and the most beautiful winter constellations. It’s a treasure-box of astronomical wonders – the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the night sky.
How to get started
You don’t need any previous knowledge of the stars to find your way around – just wrap up well and get outside on a clear night. Even in the centre of a city you can see the stars, although it’s best to find a spot away from any bright lights and give yourself a few minutes to get your eyes adapted.
We’ve made a video to help you find the planets and constellations for yourself, recorded under the real sky so you can see exactly what they looks like.
In 2025, from January right through the spring, the brightest planets are shining brilliantly in the sky so you really can’t miss them. The most obvious is Venus, which is easily visible in twilight following the sun down over in the western sky. So begin your sky adventure by keeping an eye on Venus as darkness falls. You’ll need to get out there by about 8 pm as it starts to get quite low after that.
Step 1 – Find Venus
If you are looking on 1 February you’ll see the crescent Moon near Venus – a lovely photo-opportunity. During the rest of the week the Moon moves eastwards night by night, until by 9 February it’s high in the sky and getting on for being a full Moon. Use our Chasing the Moon sheet to plot the actual position of the Moon night by night.
Venus is our theme for Day 2, find more information about this planet here.
Step 2 – Find Saturn
The next planet to look for is Saturn. It’s quite faint at the moment so it might be a bit tricky if there’s haze around. It’s below Venus, but it sinks towards the horizon each night. The views below are for about 6:30 pm on the dates shown, and by 7 pm at the end of the week it’s getting very low in the sky. Saturn this year is faint because its rings are almost edge on to us and are not lit strongly by the Sun.
Saturn is our theme for Day 1, find more information about this planet here.
Step 3 – Find Jupiter
Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, is high in the sky at the moment and is really bright, though not as bright as Venus because it’s nearly seven times farther away. The Moon passes near it on 6 February.
If you have a pair of binoculars handy, take a look at Jupiter and you’ll be able to see up to four of its largest moons on either side of it. They change position from night to night as they orbit the planet.
Jupiter is our theme for Day 6. We will post more information about this planet under the “Daily themes” menu.
Step 4 Find Mars
Keep going to the left when you’ve found Jupiter and you’ll see Mars, also very bright. You can’t help noticing that it’s reddish in colour compared with Jupiter. The Moon is very close to it on Sunday 9 February – and if you’re in the very north of Scotland you may see Mars actually go behind the Moon for a few minutes centred on about 7 pm. Mars is almost at its closest to Earth for some time right now, so a reasonable telescope will show you its disc and maybe some of its dark markings.
Mars is our theme for the last day of National Astronomy Week. We will post more information about this planet under the “Daily themes” menu.
To find out more things to see in the sky, such as the constellations of Cassiopeia and Perseus, and an amazing ‘winking star’, check out our Stars in National Astronomy Week page. Also learn how to find Uranus and Neptune.
More about the planets
Click on a planet’s image to find out what it’s like on its surface.
