Today, we call them Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn . More importantly, as the planets move along their orbits about the Sun, they appear to wander slowly across the background of the stars. They also noted that the Sun and Moon wander regularly across the background of the stars. In many different languages, the day names derive from the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The difference is subtle, but the light from a planet is steadier to the eye.
Stars appear as pinpoints of light, and the atmosphere distorts the light so that they twinkle.
Begin by simply going outside at sunset and looking for the brightest objects. If the Moon is visible, draw a line eastward across the sky from where the Sun went down. The planets that are visible will be near this arc. For people living in the Northern Hemisphere, the arc is across the southern sky. For points south of the equator, like Australia and New Zealand, the Sun, Moon and planets will be found along an arc across the northern sky.