5 planets visible in UAE skies this September: How to spot each one

Dubai: We are eleven days into September, and there is still plenty to see in the UAE's night sky. Saturn is already out for most of the night. Mars and Jupiter can be seen before sunrise. Venus is fading fast in the west after sunset, which falls around 6:30pm in Dubai this evening.

Mercury joins the others in the final week of the month, and the seasons officially change in the early hours of Wednesday, September 23. Here is a simple, day-by-day guide to what's worth stepping outside for between now and the end of the month.

Right now: Saturn is the easy one

Of the five planets, Saturn is the simplest to find. It rises in the east soon after dark, moves across to the southern sky by the middle of the night, and doesn't set until close to dawn. It's currently sitting among the faint stars of Cetus, a constellation it moved into earlier this month, and it's already close to its brightest for the year. That peak comes on Sunday, October 4, when Saturn sits directly opposite the sun in the sky, a moment astronomers call "opposition."

That's when a planet looks its biggest and brightest, because it's as close to Earth as it gets. Through a telescope, Saturn's rings still look thin and narrow. They almost vanished completely in 2025, when we were seeing them edge-on, a bit like looking at a sheet of paper from the side. They're slowly opening back up now, but won't look wide and dramatic again until the early 2030s.

Monday, September 14: A crescent moon drops in on Venus

This evening, a thin crescent moon passes close to Venus, low in the southwestern sky. Sunset in Dubai falls around 6:25pm, so wait 30 to 45 minutes after that, then look for the two of them together before they both disappear below the horizon.

Thursday, September 17: Mars pays a visit to a bright star

Before sunrise, Mars appears close to Pollux, one of the two bright 'twin' stars in the constellation Gemini, the two near enough to take in with a single glance. Mars still glows a faint orange, and it's slowly getting brighter as Earth catches up with it on its journey around the sun. Right now the two are close enough in brightness that it's worth comparing their colours: Mars's rusty orange next to Pollux's warmer, golden glow.

Friday, September 18: Venus at its brightest all year

Around this date, Venus looks as brilliant as it ever gets, before it starts fading more quickly. At the start of the month it lingered in the sky for about an hour and a half after sunset; by Wednesday, September 30 (sunset around 6:10pm), it will disappear barely half an hour later. So this is close to your last easy chance to catch it.

Wednesday, September 23: the seasons change

At exactly 4:05am UAE time on September 23, the sun crosses an imaginary line in the sky that marks the official start of autumn in the northern half of the world (and spring in the south). It's a smaller deal here than it is further north. The UAE sits much closer to the equator than Europe or North America, close enough that the Tropic of Cancer, the line marking the edge of the tropics, actually runs through the country, near Liwa.

That means day and night lengths swing far less across the year here than they do further north: roughly three hours between the longest and shortest day in Dubai, compared with eight or nine hours in a city like London. Still, it's a useful date on the calendar, one that sailors and desert travellers in this region have used for centuries to track the changing seasons.

Friday, September 25: Mars lines up with the twins

Before sunrise, Mars closes in on an imaginary line running through the two bright stars Castor and Pollux, forming a neat row of three lights low in the east. Around the same time, in the last few days of September, Mars also moves out of Gemini and into the neighbouring constellation Cancer.

Saturday, September 26: a big night, with the Harvest Moon, Saturn and Mercury all close together

Tonight brings the Harvest Moon, the full moon that falls closest to the equinox. It rises in the east around sunset and stays up all night, and Saturn shines not far away from it in the same part of the sky. Around this same date, Mercury also makes its closest pass by the star Spica, the two sitting very close together, almost touching, low in the west-southwest at dusk. Bright Venus, higher up in the fading twilight, is the easiest way to get your bearings before you hunt for fainter Mercury nearer the horizon. Sunset in Dubai these evenings falls around 6:15pm, so give it 30 to 45 minutes.

The final stretch: Venus bows out, Mercury takes over

By the last evening of the month, Wednesday, September 30, Venus barely clears the horizon before setting, a fitting end to its run as the star of the evening sky since spring. Mercury then takes over as the main evening planet heading into October. On Monday, October 12, Mercury will be as far from the sun in the sky as it gets during this appearance, though even then it never climbs very high above the horizon.

Why the UAE has it a little easier

Venus and Mercury sit low in the west after sunset this month, and how easy they are to see depends on where you are. The sun, moon and planets follow roughly the same path across the sky. In autumn, that path meets the horizon at a shallow angle from cities far to the north, a bit like looking at a ramp from the side, so planets near the sun stay low for a long time after sunset. Closer to the equator, like here in the UAE, that same path stands up much straighter, more like a ladder leaning against a wall. That lifts Venus and Mercury higher, faster, once the sun goes down.

Where and how to look

For the best views, get well away from the bright lights of the city. Good, dark spots to try include the Al Qudra and Al Marmoom desert areas in Dubai, the Al Quaa desert near Abu Dhabi, Mleiha National Park in Sharjah, and the higher ground around Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah.

The Dubai Astronomy Group also holds regular public stargazing nights in the desert, with telescopes set up and experts on hand; it's worth checking their schedule if you'd like some help finding everything. Nights are still warm at this time of year, so bring water, and the hours after midnight tend to bring the calmest, clearest air for spotting Mars and Jupiter before dawn.