Here's why:
* Planets reflect light: Planets shine because they reflect sunlight. The sunlight that hits a planet is scattered in all directions, and some of it reaches our eyes, making the planet appear bright.
* Stars produce light: Stars are massive balls of hot gas that generate their own light through nuclear fusion.
So, while planets may appear bright in the night sky, it's because they are reflecting the light of a nearby star, in our case, the Sun.