Here's a table of planetary distances tonight.

      Planet         Distance from Earth 
                   (millions of kilometers)
   -----------------------------------------
      Mercury             132
      Venus               106
      Mars                287
      Jupiter             678
      Saturn             1354
   -----------------------------------------

1. Rank the planets in order of brightness in the sky (1 = brightest, 5 = dimmest)

2. Rank the planets in order from closest to the Earth to most distant (1 = closest, 5 = farthest)

3. Are the two lists the same? If not, why?

Satellite predictions from the "Heavens Above" site.