Planet Hunting

This is a beautiful time of year to go planet hunting. All 5 of the visible planets- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn- are out for gazing. But just how do you know you've found a planet? And how do you even begin to look for one??
There is an easy answer for both of these questions and the answers will acquaint you with the heavens above. The sun is at the middle of our solar system. You probably knew that. And you probably also know that the planets all move around the sun in fairly circluar orbits. But did you know that all the planets will remain on one flat plane? Gravity hold them there! So if you can find this invisible flat plane, you are on your way to finding planets!!
The sun is your starting point, find it or its trail of 'movement' and you are on your way. The sun appears to move because of our own planet's movement around it. You may have also hear that from time to time the moon will cross in front of the sun. This spectaular event is called...an Ecllipse. Thus this apparent line that the sun and moon travel along is called...the Eclliptic. Its all very exciting once you know the basics.
Observe the sun at sun rise when the Earth spins back toward it's gaze. It appears to rise from the East. Then in the evening, when we turn away, it appears to set in the West.  You have just discovered the line of the Eclliptic! And it is along this line that all the planets will sit, at least for a short time before they too dance along this tightrope. Raise your arm and point to the West, then slowly wave your arm across the sky until you hit East- you have traced this line and you are ready to hunt planets.
So tonight....
As our Earth spins away from the sun this evening, in the West you will see a radiant object will glowing amongst the colors of sunset. This is Venus our sister world. Very close in that region will be tiny Mercury, but you will have to wait patiently to see it as sunlight will always win against this faint planet. Heading slightly East you will soon run into Mars and Saturn. Mars glows a red shade due to its rusty terrain and Saturn will be a brilliant shade of white. One trick about planets: they don't twinkle. Like the moon, they do not possess energy of their own so they simply reflect the light of the sun.
Just before midnight, rising in the East is extremely bright Jupiter. This beast of a planet hosts over 60 moons and with a telescope you can often see four of the biggest as they spin around their big brother.
Happy planet hunting tonight!