SkyEye

The chart shows the path of Neptune across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +10.5 are shown. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde motion and proceding in the opposite direction.

The lower chart shows how the appearance of Neptune changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds) and the geocentric distance (in au). Because the relative distance of Neptune does not greatly vary throughout the year, neither does its appearance through a telescope.

Neptune is the most distant planet in the solar system from the Sun and the smallest of the four gas giants. Because of its great distance, it is not visible to the naked eye so a small telescope is always necessary to observe it. Found in Pisces all year, Neptune is an evening sky object at the beginning of 2026. It is lost to view by March when it undergoes conjunction with the Sun. It reappears in the morning sky, returning to the evening sky from around July. Opposition takes place in September. The Moon keeps its distance, never coming closer than 3°. Saturn and Neptune began a triple conjunction in right ascension last year; the final leg takes place in mid-February. A single conjunction in ecliptic longitude occurs at around the same time. Mercury, Venus and Mars also come to call in the first half of the year.

All times and dates are in UT with the time given to the nearest hour unless otherwise indicated. Positions are geocentric apparent places and referred to the true equator and equinox of date.