The planets of the photo voltaic system have been lined up within the sky Wednesday night time in an astronomical phenomenon, seen from Earth, often called a “planet parade.”
The phenomenon, which was additionally seen Tuesday night time, gave skywatchers an excellent view of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with the bare eye. With a pair of binoculars or a telescope, Uranus and Neptune is also seen.
The planet parade shouldn’t be an especially uncommon incidence — it tends to occur not less than each couple of years. In reality, the eight-planet alignment final occurred in June.
In order to see the phenomenon, it was really helpful you look south after sundown. From east to west, the planets appeared on this order: Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Venus.
“People should look southward about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset to catch Mercury and Venus before they’re too close to the horizon to observe,” stated Vahé Peroomian, a professor of astronomy and physics on the University of Southern California. “Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will be visible once it gets dark, from southeast to east.”
Planets can seem collectively in the identical a part of the sky throughout their orbits across the solar, Peroomian instructed CBS News.
“Mercury completes one orbit in 88 days, and Venus in 225 days. The outer planets move a lot slower: Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit the Sun, Saturn takes 29,” he stated. “So, as long as Jupiter and Saturn are visible, which happens unless they’re on opposite sides of the Sun from our point of view, then the remaining planets will eventually line up.”
It is a much bigger feat for Neptune and Uranus to even be seen concurrently they take 165 years and 84 years, respectively, to orbit the solar.
Both planets “spend considerable time on opposite sides of the Sun from our vantage point,” Peroomian stated.
On Wednesday night time, Uranus and Neptune have been comparatively shut collectively, however as a result of Uranus strikes across the Sun twice as quick as Neptune, the planets will return to being far aside from each other, he stated.
As a outcome, “it won’t be possible to see both planets in the night sky at the same time for several decades,” Peroomian added.