Topline
The five-planet parade continues with its last best week, with Venus, Jupiter and Saturn easy to see and Neptune at its annual opposition on Tuesday. It’s also the autumnal or fall equinox on Monday, Sept. 22 — along with a dramatic solar eclipse in the Southern Hemisphere.
September’s planetary parade features five planets, three of them visible to the naked eye. Here’s when and where to look this week, Sept. 22-28, 2025.
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Key Facts
The best views of the five-planet parade are about an hour before sunrise. Venus shines in the east, Jupiter sits high in the east-southeast and Saturn glows brightly, but low in the west. Uranus and Neptune complete the lineup, though can only be seen through binoculars or a telescope.
Saturn’s opposition on Sunday, Sept. 21, put the sixth planet’s biggest, brightest and best in 2025. This week is therefore when to look at it through any telescope, though its famous rings are tilted almost edge-on this year. Despite Saturn reaching peak brightness, Venus will remain the parade’s star performer, shining dozens of times brighter than Saturn.
On Sept. 22, the sun crosses the celestial equator, marking the fall or autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere. It sees the sun appear directly above the equator at midday, with day and night nearly equal in length across the entire planet.
Neptune reaches its annual opposition on Sept. 23, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.
Looking east and south 45 minutes before sunrise on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. Venus and Jupiter are shown here. Saturn is farther to the right in the southwest sky.
Stellarium
Neptune Reaches Its Brightest And Best
Neptune’s opposition is its brightest appearance of 2025, though it remains just a faint star-like point. According to When The Curves Line Up, it sits above Saturn in the same field of view, though it is much dimmer. Its brightness and proximity to Saturn makes this week the ideal time to tick the solar system’s most distant (and most difficult to see) planet off your observing list.
Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of Neptune, taken on July 12, 2022, brings the planet’s rings into full focus for the first time in more than three decades.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Image Processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Naomi Rowe-Gurney (NASA-GSFC)
Where To Watch Monday’s Solar Eclipse
On Monday, Sept. 22, skywatchers in New Zealand, Antarctica, and parts of the South Pacific will witness a very deep partial solar eclipse at sunrise when as much as 86% of the sun will be blocked by the moon during sunrise. TimeAndDate.com is streaming the entire event live at 18:00 UTC (1:00 p.m. EDT) on Sunday, Sept. 21 (the dates reflect the fact that the eclipse takes place close to the international date line). It’s the second and final partial solar eclipse of 2025.
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