You can easily see two of the major planets in these nights (as of December 2008).

VENUS hangs bright in the evening twilight just after sunset in the western sky.

As it is always not far from the Sun, Venus will show a gibbous phase, up to a crescent. It is the phases of Venus which, when first observed by Galileo, confirmed the theory of an earth centered universe. According to the popular belief of the time, the earth was the most important body in the universe and therefore should be at the center. However, the observations of the planetary motions did not support that conclusion. Some said that if the Sun were indeed the true center of the universe, and the Earth as a mere planet along with all of the others, any bodies closer to the sun would show phases like the moon. With his newfound telescope, Galileo chose Venus as a likely candidate to demonstrate this, and in 1610 clearly observed the planet both changing phases and its size as it changed its distance to the earth. This exactly fit the radical new Copernican theory.

JUPITER is close to Venus, on the right, just a little less bright. With a small telescope you can see its 4 major satellites revolving night after night around the planet.

MARS is too close to the Sun to be seen.

As of November 2008, there are two functioning pieces of equipment (both American) on the surface of Mars sending pictures back to Earth: the Spirit rover and the Opportunity rover. Their task is also to search for signs of life. .