Jupiter
The largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter is an easy target to pick out in the sky. Using a basic telescope, you can pick out the iconic cloud belts drooped across Jupiter’s surface and maybe even see its four largest moons. If you catch it at the right time, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is visible with a strong telescope.
Venus
The brightest planet we can see with the naked eye, Venus has played a role in human culture for millennia. Known by poets as the “morning star” and as the “evening star”, Venus can be seen after sunset after it overtakes the Earth on its yearly cycle and before sunrise after it passes the Earth. Venus is so bright that it can be seen at midday.
International Space Station
The only man-made object on our list, the International Space Station orbits the Earth over 15 times a day, creating plenty of viewing opportunities, though it is often confused for a rapidly-moving plane. To find out where and when the ISS will be in the sky above your head, check out NASA’s Spot the Station at https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/.
Canopus
The second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus would have been seen as the brightest star in the sky by many of our dinosaur ancestors. Though #9 has since moved closer to clinch the brightest star title from Canopus, the star will have its day (or night) again in about 480,000 years when it again becomes the brightest star in the night sky. Though it looks bright white to the naked eye, Canopus can look yellowish when seen through a telescope.
Sirius
The all-time brightest star in the night sky is not, in fact, the well-known North Star, but rather Sirius: the “Dog Star”. The brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius partially makes up what is referred to as “Orion’s dog”. The phrase “dog days are over” (such as in the Florence + The Machine song) originates from Sirius. Based on the star’s position in the sky, the Ancient Greeks (and us) could tell when the dog days – the hottest, most brutal summer days – were beginning.
Saturn
The first (and dimmest) planet viewable to the naked eye, Saturn is one of the most spectacular celestial bodies to point a telescope towards. Even basic telescopes (with a minimum of 30 times magnification) are able to make out Saturn’s iconic rings, primarily composed of ice particles and rocky debris. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is larger than Mercury and can be seen with strong binoculars.
Mercury
Mercury is the 7th brightest object in the sky which is visible to the naked eye. Since Mercury (and #4) orbit the Sun within Earthian orbit, the planet can only be seen in the morning or evening, never in the thick of night. Just like our Moon, Mercury has a range of phases which can be seen with a telescope.
Mars
Mars has been the focus of amateur and professional astronomers alike for thousands of years. Easily distinguishable in the night sky by its reddish color, the Red Planet has an apparent magnitude of -2.91. Most easily seen from July to September, in August 2003, Mars was the brightest to us that it has been in 60,000 years.
Rigel
The brightest star in the Zodiac constellation of Orion, Rigel is diagonally opposite of Orion’s Belt from #18, Betelgeuse. The furthest star from Earth on our list, Rigel is about 863 light years away. It is notable for its variable magnitude, caused by its pulsations, themselves the result of nuclear reactions from hydrogen fusion.
Capella
Translated from Latin, Capella means “little female goat”. It doesn’t sound very befitting, but the Greeks used this star to represent the goat that suckled the god Zeus. With a visual magnitude of 0.07, Capella is the third brightest star in the northern hemisphere. For people living in latitudes north of 44°N, the star is visible both day and night.