Planet or star?

To the naked eye planets look like stars, but there are reliable clues to tell them apart.

• Twinkling: stars twinkle a lot, planets shine with a steadier light because they are tiny discs rather than points.
• Position: planets are always found along the ecliptic.
• Motion: over days or weeks they shift against the stars ("planet" means "wanderer").

Planets visible to the naked eye

• Venus: the brightest point after the Sun and Moon, always near the Sun: you see it in the evening in the west or in the morning in the east.
• Jupiter: very bright and white, visible even in the middle of the night. Binoculars show up to four moons.
• Mars: orange-red; its brightness changes a lot with its distance from Earth.
• Saturn: yellowish, fainter; a small telescope shows the rings.
• Mercury: difficult, always low in twilight near the Sun.

The best dates to see them (oppositions and elongations) are in GAIA's calendar, computed for the next twelve months.