What planets can we see in the night sky? Why can't we see all the planets now? Where has NASA explored in the Solar System, and where are they now?

The Exploring Our Solar System banner helps you answer these basic questions your visitors may have prior or observing and is a fun, interactive way for both you and your visitors to visualize the layout of our solar system as it relates to how we see it in our dark skies. This map can help visitors see why Venus and Mercury can be both "evening" and "morning" planets, how conjunctions happen, and even what retrograde motion is. 

Links to the original banner artwork and locations of NASA missions are included to allow you to print out your own banners.

You can also modify this sheet to demonstrate positions of the planets at their oppositions, as demonstrated in this example shared by Jerelyn Ramirez:

Mars 2020:
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ExploringtheSolarSystemMarsOpposition.pdf


Uploaded: December 7, 2007
Last Update: September 4, 2020