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Seeing stars and planets with the naked eye?
Ok so lately I've really gotten into astronomy and it seems that in the ancient times romans, greeks etc. could see planets. Now I don't afford a telescope so where can I go to see planets 
a dark area??
It is often thought, particularly by beginners, that amateur astronomy requires the purchase of a telescope of some kind. Certainly it is true that owning a good quality telescope does make it possible to observe many more objects in the sky than can be seen with the naked eye. However, the fact is that a lot of interesting observing can be done with just the naked eye as well. Some amateurs, even experienced ones, sometimes believe that naked eye observing is only suitable for novices. However, that is not true either. In fact, there are many interesting and worthwile naked eye projects for even the most advanced observers.
Sky conditions are very important to amateur astronomy. One useful naked eye project, regardless of the sort of observing you usually do, is to just monitor the conditions of the sky at your location. Keep a weather log and keep track of which days are cloudy and which are clear. Statistics on temperature and humidity might also be interesting. Note the naked eye limiting magnitude. Is the Milky Way visible? If so, how well? Look both at the zenith and toward the horizon. The sky quality will degrade near the horizon, but by how much? As a naked eye observer you can get some idea of the quality of the "seeing" by observing star twinkling.
Light Pollution causes major problems with astronomy. How bad is the light pollution at your location? Which sections of your sky are affected? Light pollution tends to become less of a problem late at night because many lights are shut off at those hours. As a naked eye observer, you might explore how the light pollution at your location varies with time of night, season of the year (does it corrolate with the amount of snow cover?), or the weather.
People do not normally associate observing distant galaxies with naked eye observing. However, with a dark sky there are a number of deep sky objects that you can observe without optical aid. The galaxy M31 is the classic example. There are also several clusters and even some nebula (such as the Orion Nebula) that are visible to the naked eye.
The naked eye is also an excellent instrument for probing the dark lanes of our own galaxy. If the Milky Way is bright, you can generally seen large patches of darkness amid the sea of stars.
Other Atmospheric and Astronomical Phenomena There are several other phenomena that you can look for without optical aid.
1. Aurora - If you have a dark northern view you can search for aurorial displays. Some displays are very spectacular and fill the entire sky. But many displays are not that extensive and are easily missed. If you specifically spend time looking for aurora you might be surprised at how often you can see it.
2. The Zodiac Light - This is a faint, conical "beam" of light that appears in the west right after sunset or in the east right before sunrise. It follows the ecliptic and is due to sunlight scattering of dust particles orbiting the sun.
3.The Gegenschein - This is a faint patch of light, similar to the Zodiac light, except that it occurs exactly opposite the sun in the sky. It is best seen when the that point is as high as possible (winter months for Northern Hemisphere observers). It is caused by scattering of sunlight from dust particles orbiting the sun that are directly "behind" the Earth.
4.The Shadow of the Earth - I understand that under certain conditions, immediately after sunset while the sun is still illuminating much of the sky, it is sometimes possible to see the shadow of the Earth pointing outwards to the east (opposite the sun, of course) and into space. This only occurs when the atmospheric conditions allow it. What you are really seeing is the shadow being cast on the haze and impurities in the upper atmosphere. It is not easy to observe.
5.The Green Flash - This is an exceedingly rare phenomon. Under certain conditions, just as the sun sets (or just as it rises) the sky will appear to light up green for a moment. The Green Flash is best observed if you have a horizon view of the sunset (or sunrise). It tends to be observed most often at sea.
6.Satellites - There are many "artificial" satellites orbiting the Earth. They are best observed shortly after sunset or before sunrise when the light from the sun is illuminating the space immediately overhead.
Five of the planets in our solar system are sufficiently bright to be visible to the naked eye. These planets are: Mercury , Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Although their brightness varies as their positions relative to the Earth change, at their most brilliant, all of them, except for Saturn, become brighter in our sky than the brightest star (Sirius). Even Saturn, most distant of the naked eye planets, can attain an apparent magnitude as bright as -0.3, comparable to the third brightest star (alpha Centauri) and inferior only to Sirius and Canopus.
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