Clear skies permitting, there are three planets which New Zealand stargazers will be able to see in the night skies at this time of year.
Jupiter and Saturn are currently visible in New Zealand's early morning skies. Photo: NASA
Otago Museum director and astronomer Dr Ian Griffin said two planets from the constellation of Capricorn, Jupiter and Saturn, could be viewed in New Zealand's eastern skies in the very early morning.
A bit later, the planet of Mercury is also visible above the eastern horizon, Griffin said.
He said planets were usually easier to spot than stars, for example this morning, it was possible to see "a stonkingly bright gold yellow coloured thing" which was Jupiter.
"Generally, stars twinkle and planets don't and also planets tend to be a lot brighter than stars," he said.
"If you look at it [Jupiter] carefully, it doesn't twinkle and that's because Jupiter's relatively close on a star scale to us and its size means that it doesn't twinkle in the sky - so that's how you can tell the difference."
Griffin said generally a telescope was necessary to see any details around the planets, but binoculars could also work.
"With Saturn and a pair of binoculars you might just be able to see its rings ... and with Jupiter with binoculars you can definitely see its family of moons, the four moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto."
He said it was a good time of year to dust off the telescope if you had one because it would allow you see Saturn's ring system, which was a fantastic sight.
"And on Jupiter you can actually see real detail on the planet's surface, you can see the great red spot and you can see fantastic festoon features on its gaseous atmosphere."
