It’s a Gas
Jupiter is brilliant from dusk to dawn, rising in the east at twilight, at its highest due south around midnight and low in the west at dawn. The gaseous giant is at its closest, and Tuesday marks its opposition, when it is directly opposite the sun in relation to earth. The planet is at its best for viewing, and even a modest telescope will reveal its colored bands and its four largest moons.
Mars rises around midnight and is well placed in the south as daybreak approaches. Over the next three months the red planet grows in size and brightness as it moves closer to earth.
Saturn rises around 1:30am, trailing Mars by 20 degrees. Come dawn it’s high in the south-southeast. The bright star to its lower right is Antares.
Venus twinkles just above the east-southeast horizon a half-hour before sunrise, while Mercury is a few degrees lower still, and almost lost now against the coming sun.