This month’s planets
The elusive planet Mercury takes pride of place in the evening sky, while Jupiter and Saturn are ready for early risers
Mars is our Planet of the Month this month, not because it is particularly bright or well-placed, but because there’s so much going to be happening there. Three space probes are due to arrive at Mars in February. After reaching Mars the United Arab Emirates’ Hope orbiter, China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter and lander and NASA’s Perseverance rover will all send back a wealth of new information about the Red Planet, hopefully answering longstanding questions and solving many outstanding mysteries about the planet’s past, present and future. Their results will also hopefully help NASA and other space agencies as they start thinking seriously about how to send astronauts to Mars, perhaps even in the next decade.