How can we differentiate between a satellite and planets when viewing from Earth without using telescope?
Satellites move across the sky at very noticeable speeds, taking only tens of seconds or a minute or two to cross the night sky. These satellites, unlike geosynchronous satellites, are only a few hundred miles above the Earth. Planets take months to traverse the night-time ecliptic plane. They are tens of millions to hundreds of millions of miles away. The two bright planets presently visible are Venus in the west after dusk, and Jupiter in the east, rising to maximum ascension at around midnight to 1 AM. These positions and times of viewing will change gradually as the Earth makes its journey around the Sun, and the planets do likewise.
