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The brightest planets in August's night sky: How to see them (and when) References
By Joe Rao last updated August 1, 2025
Where are the bright naked-eye planets in August 2025 and when are the
best times to view them?

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a person looks through a telescope beneath a crescent moon and two
bright orbs in the sky
What are the best viewing opportunities for planets in July? Space.com's
guide has you covered. (Image credit: m-gucci/Getty Images)
Jump to:
Mercury
Venus and Jupiter
Mars
Saturn
All through this month, look for the ever-changing, day-by-day
configuration of the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter.

They dominate the east-northeast twilight sky all month long. During the
first 11 days of the month, watch as Jupiter slowly draws closer to
Venus, the gap between the two closes from 10 degrees on Aug. 1, to
7-degrees on Aug.5, down to just 2 degrees by Aug. 10. They are closest
to each other on the morning of Aug. 12, separated by less than one
degree, and then they will gradually pull away from each other through
the balance of the August: 3-degrees apart on Aug. 15. 7 degrees of
separation (with a lovely crescent moon nearby) on Aug. 20, and by
month's end, the gulf between them will have widened to nearly 20 degrees.

Beginning around Aug. 12 and continuing through at least Aug. 26, the innermost planet, Mercury, will poke above the east-northeast horizon
about 45 to 90 minutes before sunrise and will be evident about 15 to 20 degrees to the lower right of Venus.

You may like
a graphic of the night sky with a starry sky background. A black circle
is in the center with Night Sky written in white. There is a white
telescope beneath the text. In the top left corner it says Space.com in cooperation with Starry Night.
Night sky, August 2025: What you can see tonight [maps]
Swirling clouds are seen in the dense atmosphere of the planet Venus,
which hangs against a black background in an image from NASA's
Mariner 10 spacecraft.
Venus reaches its highest point in the eastern pre-dawn sky on Aug. 1:
Here's how to see it
Night sky map showing Mercury climbing past Jupiter.
Catch Jupiter and Mercury side by side in the evening sky this week
Click here for more Space.com videos...
Saturn accommodates planet watchers by rising above the eastern horizon
during the mid-to-late evening hours and will be favorably placed for
viewing about halfway up in the southern sky between the hours of
midnight and dawn. The famous ring system is evident in small
telescopes, though they are only tilted about 3 degrees to our line of
sight.

TOP TELESCOPE PICK:
Celestron - NexStar 4SE Telescope

(Image credit: Amazon)
Want to see the visible planets in the night sky? The Celestron NexStar
4SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of celestial objects. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 4SE review.

Finally, there's Mars, feebly shining only as bright as a second
magnitude star, it's visible low in the west-southwest sky and sets
around 10 p.m. early in the month; closer to 9 p.m. by month's end.

In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation
between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which
provides some of the best planet viewing times as well as directing you
as to where to look to see them.

Mercury
A close up image of Mercury partially covered in shadow in outer space

Mercury's stunning details can be seen by keen-eyed skywatchers. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Mercury climbs into view in the dawn sky during the first half of
August. It shines only at 2nd magnitude on Aug. 10 but brightens rapidly nearly eight-fold to magnitude -0.1 by Aug. 19, also the very day it
attains maximum angular separation (19 degrees west) from the sun. For mid-northern viewers, this elusive planet rises a bit north of due east
some 1.5 hours before sunup through Aug. 26, becoming easy to spot
without any optical aid. On Aug. 21, the narrow sliver of a waning
crescent moon hovers 5 degrees above Mercury.

Venus and Jupiter
A star map of the night sky with Venus and Jupiter close together in the center. They are surrounded by an orange circle depicting that the duo
share the same field of view in a pair of binoculars.

Venus passes near Jupiter before dawn on Aug. 12. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Venus and Jupiter are so bright that they draw special attention and admiration whenever they come fairly close to each other in the sky. On
the morning of Aug. 12, they pass less than 0.9 degrees from each other, making for a head-turning sight in the east-northeast sky from 3 a.m.
on. Jupiter is to the lower left of Venus before the conjunction this
morning. After the conjunction, Jupiter will appear progressively higher
and Venus lower. Venus shines at magnitude -4 but has now shrunk greatly
since its glory days a few months ago, presenting a typically
featureless gibbous form. Jupiter at magnitude -2 currently appears
twice as large as Venus in telescopes. Also, during the mornings of Aug.
19 and Aug. 20, watch how a thinning crescent moon interacts with these
two bright planets. On Aug. 19, about an hour before sunrise, take note
of the moon appearing directly above Jupiter. On Aug. 20, Venus appears
4 degrees to the moon's lower right.

Mars
A close up view of Mars in outer space shows its icy poles and dark spots.

The Red Planet's detailed features are captivating for any stargazer
(Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Mars shines among the stars of Virgo in the early evening sky. About 45 minutes after sunset on the evening of Aug. 26, search low in the west-southwest sky for a waxing crescent moon. Mars will be about a
half-dozen degrees to its upper right. Binoculars will help.

Saturn
A close up of Saturn in outer space, with its many labeled moons,
including Enceladus, Pandor, Tethys and others.

Saturn's rings and many moons give a show for any stargazer. (Image
credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)
Saturn doesn't rise in the east until 2.5 hours after sunset when August begins, but it's up only an hour after sunset as August ends. Once
Saturn is well clear of the horizon, the naked eye sees it as a sedate
fleck of yellow-white no brighter than magnitude +0.8 in a rather empty
part of the sky. During the late-evening hours of Aug. 11, the bright
star situated to the lower left of the waxing gibbous moon will be the
ringed world.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky
and Telescope and other publications.

Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would
like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments,
and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

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