Do you look at the stars?
When I ran/walked at 4 a.m. every day in July, I often hunted for the Neowise comet* in the dark sky. Unfortunately, none of the bright points of light had a tail. I knew there were planets mixed in with the stars, and I began to wonder which was which.
I downloaded the Star Walk 2 app (it was a random choice), and the sky opened up to me. This cool app connects to your phone’s camera. When you hold your phone up to the object in the sky you want to identify, the app labels all the objects visible on the screen. It is amazing.
I learned that Venus, Uranus (which I couldn’t see,) Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were in a line across the sky (the app showed the actual line on my phone.) Once I knew where these planets were, I watched them travel across the sky.
If you are outside late at night or early in the morning, I recommend the Star Walk 2 app. It’s fun to put a name to the objects in the sky.
*I never saw Neowise no matter how early I started. It was often cloudy, and even when it was clear overhead, there would be low fog. Plus, lights from town illuminated the eastern horizon, thus fading an already dim object. I ended up seeing the comet around 11 p.m. one night, which was nice but made for a tired run the next day.