How 5 planets were visible in a rare celestial event

How the 5 planets were visible

While the five planets were visible along with the waxing crescent moon in most parts of the world, most viewers might not have been able to see it unless they were in a location with an unobstructed view of the horizon.

According to Rick Feinberg, senior contributing editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, Venus and Mars should have been easy to spot. Venus is the brightest planet in the solar system and will be high in the sky, and Mars will shine brightly next to the waxing Moon. But on the other hand, Uranus, which appeared near Venus, would have appeared faint and would have only been visible with binoculars.

“Wait until the sun has set and then go out and look low in that bright part of the sky where the sun has just set with binoculars, and you should see brighter Jupiter next to fainter Mercury,” said Fienberg to NPR ahead of the even.

Was this a rare event?

While what happened yesterday was not an everyday event, it was not truly a five-planet alignment since the planets did not appear as if they formed a single straight line.

If you were looking for an actual alignment of five planets, that time has passed as well. A true 5 planet alignment happened in June last year when Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn stretched across the sky from low in the east to higher in the south in the order of their distance from the Sun.

Even discounting the rare coincidence where they appeared in that particular order, the planetary alignment in June was the first one in nearly eighteen years, with the last time being on December 2004. Such an event is not expected to happen again until 2040, according to NPR.