4 Bright Objects In Space That Aren't Actually Stars

Stargazing is becoming something of a lost art. With light pollution and screen addiction on the rise, it can be easy to forget that the greatest show in the universe is, well, the cosmos itself. This is more than a vaguely regrettable fact of modern life; a growing body of research has now begun to reveal that stargazing plays a significant role in maintaining proper mental health. Put together, these are necessary reminders that it's never a bad idea to get out there and cast your gaze at the heavens.

But when we look up at the stars, we see far more than just sun-like bodies of hot, burning plasma. Many of the thousands of stars visible in the night sky are actually made up of a diversity of cosmic bodies ranging from planets to galaxies and even far-off nebulae. If you're not familiar with the astronomical ins and outs of it all, it's possible that the last time you noticed a bright star in the sky, you were looking at something else entirely.

With early 2025's planetary alignment still ongoing, and with others inevitable in the future, now is the perfect time to learn more about the brightest objects in the night sky that aren't actually stars. As these cosmic bodies are constantly moving, properly identifying which is which can be tricky. So, we'll break down when and where you'll have the best chances of seeing them.

Our closest planetary neighbor, Venus, is the third brightest object in the sky apart from the sun and the moon. Venus went on an absolute tear in January 2025 when it shone incredibly bright at an apparent magnitude of -4.4. Apparent magnitude is a metric that astronomers use to assess the brightness of an object in the sky, with lower and negative numbers correlating to a higher brightness. To put Venus' -4.4 apparent magnitude in perspective, look to Sirius, the brightest (actual) star in the sky, which only shines at a magnitude of around -1.6 (a full moon clocks in around -12.6).

In 2025, Venus' brightness peaked around February 16 due to a few factors. The first is distance. The closest the planet ever gets to Earth is a distance of roughly 24 million miles, which can stretch to a maximum of just over 160 million miles (a period when, oddly, Mercury is actually the closer planet to Earth). But when Venus gets close, it can truly put on a show, and in January and February 2025, it hovered at a distance of around 52 million miles from us. The second reason is that Venus is covered in highly reflective clouds that bounce back around 70% of the light hitting it, according to the European Space Agency. Finally, Venus, like our moon, goes through a series of phases, and from February to March, it is in a waning phase, appearing more and more like a small crescent moon.

To find Venus during this time, stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere should look to the southwestern sky after sunset, while those in the Southern Hemisphere should keep their eyes trained in a more westerly direction.

Jupiter is the brightest star in the east that isn't a star at all. The largest planet in the solar system, the gas giant contains more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined, could fit 1,000 Earths inside of it, and was created by the leftover material from the sun's formation some 4.6 billion years ago. Because of the planets' change in distance from each other due to their orbits, Jupiter is anywhere from 365 million to 600 million miles from Earth, depending on the time of year. But that mind-bending number doesn't stop the king of planets from showing up in dramatic fashion as one of the most luminous objects in the sky.

The planet is visible year-round, but your best bet at seeing it in its full glory is, as always, getting as far away from light pollution as possible. Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere will want to keep their eyes trained on the east, where Jupiter rises before it moves toward the south and ultimately sets in the west.

While Jupiter put on one of its brightest displays in January 2025, the planet will be even brighter in January 2026, around the time it reaches opposition, at an apparent magnitude of -2.53. Opposition is when the Earth comes between the sun and another planet in question, and in early 2026, Jupiter will be a mere 395 million miles away from us during this phase. During this time, no matter your location on Earth, the planet will rise as the sun sets and move to roughly where the sun was at noon earlier in the day.

The fourth planet from the sun isn't nicknamed the red planet for nothing. At night, Mars shines a bright crimson-gold in the sky, a color that owes its existence to the iron minerals that oxidize in the Martian soil. The planet was most recently at its brightest in January 2025, when it was around 60 million miles away from Earth around the time of its opposition. On January 16, it shone at an apparent magnitude of -1.4. 

The last time Mars was as bright as it was in January 2025 was in December 2022, and that won't occur again until February 2027. But throughout February and March in 2025, Mars remains bright in the sky, though it will slowly dim as the weeks pass by and days begin to lengthen.

In the U.S. and parts of Canada, Mars can be seen in the eastern portion of the sky in the hours after dark, moving to the southwest at dawn. If you are unsure of what you're looking at, it's helpful to remember that the planets in our solar system tend to follow along the arc of what's known as the plane of the ecliptic. This is a plane of orbit that has its origins in the flat disc of dust and gas that led to the formation of the solar system billions of years ago. To locate this, trace the path the sun takes through the sky during the day; if you find bright, slightly disc-shaped objects around this line, you're probably looking at a planet.

The jewel of the solar system, Saturn is an absolute wonder of a planet. It remains one of the most unexplored bodies in our stellar neighborhood, with the notable exception of the famous Cassini-Huygens mission. That endeavor saw the Cassini spacecraft end its two-decade exploration of the planet by flying into Saturn's atmosphere, where it was destroyed through the immense heat of entry. The planet is also one of the brightest objects in the sky, with a maximum apparent magnitude of 0.43, putting it roughly on par with the brightest stars we can see.

Saturn spent mid-January 2025 in conjunction with Venus, when the two appeared close to each other in the southwest region of the night sky for the first few hours after sunset. Like the other heavenly bodies in 2025's planetary parade, Saturn remained visible throughout most of February. On the first of that month, stargazers also had the chance to see a genuinely awe-inspiring sight: Venus, Saturn, and a barely-present crescent moon huddled together in the firmament. Neptune was there, too, but without a powerful pair of binoculars or a telescope, it was too faint to see.

Saturn disappears as it moves down toward the horizon and closer to the sun's position in the sky near the end of February. Thankfully, however, the planet will return in September 2025 at opposition, when it will be at the brightest level of the entire year.

The only other galaxy besides our own that can be seen with the naked eye is our galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. Also known as M31 or NGC 224, the Andromeda Galaxy is an astounding 200,000 light-years across and contains hundreds of billions of stars. Despite its massive stature, the galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away from us, meaning it appears as a point of light in the night sky and can be easily mistaken for a star if you don't know what you're looking at.

Despite being the most distant object you can see without any equipment, the Andromeda Galaxy is fairly easy to find, even in places where light pollution is present. It features an apparent magnitude rating of 3.1, putting it just at the border of what our eyes can detect on their own. M31 appears as a fuzzy but distinct light in the northwest night sky in northern latitudes during the fall and winter months. To locate it, first find the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. Using the deeper "valley" of that constellation's two "v's" as an arrow, follow in that direction to the nearby hazy light — that's M31.

M31 is only going to get brighter with time. That's because it's traveling right towards us at 68 miles per second. In 4 billion years or so, the galaxy will slam into our own, hurling some of each galaxy's stars out into the cosmic void as the two massive bodies begin to merge. Check out our guide on why the Milky Way is colliding with another galaxy to learn more about that cataclysmic future.

When you think of objects visible from Earth with the naked eye, deep-space star-forming regions like nebulae aren't usually the first things that come to mind. However, in favorable light conditions — like during a new moon — this is actually possible with the Orion and Carina Nebulae.

The Orion Nebula, also known as M42, is one of the closest nebulae to Earth, and it's a relatively easy find. To locate it, find the three stars that make up Orion's Belt. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you'll want to look below the belt (and above it if you're in the Southern Hemisphere). There, you'll see a dim but present hazy blotch — that's the Orion Nebula. The nebula's stars are so hot that they produce deadly levels of ultraviolet radiation, ionizing atoms that glow as their electrons are shredded off in the process. In northern latitudes, look for Orion (and the Orion Nebula) in the winter months and in the summer for southern latitudes.

The Carina Nebula is the more common name for Caldwell 92, a nebula that lies within our own galaxy at 7,500 light-years away from Earth. A significant distance, to be sure, but the nebula remains visible because it produces stars that are roughly 5 million times as bright as our own sun and 100 times as massive. These stars can be seen with the naked eye despite featuring an apparent magnitude of 4.8. This is really stretching the limit of unaided visibility, so bring a powerful telescope or pair of binoculars to see its gassy, colorful details.