New hi-def images from Mars

[Jackalope]

I've never seen Mars from the Earth

You ain't been looking very hard mate!

Indeed... on any given night, the brightest "stars" you can see are probably not stars. When visible, Venus is always substantially brighter than the brightest star (Sirius), Jupiter slightly to much brighter, Mars ranges from not as bright as the brightest to much brighter, and Saturn is usually nearly as bright as the brightest stars. (LOL, subjectively qualifying brightness ain't that easy.)

Mercury is usually too low in the sky to be confused with a planet, Uranus is difficult to see under the best of conditions (and otherwise impossible), and Neptune and Pluto are never visible to the naked eye.

One way to tell the difference between stars and planets - most nights, stars noticebly "twinkle" from atmospheric disturbance. Because planets have a larger angular size, they are less susceptible to disturbance and appear to twinkle noticibly less.