You can see all the planets in the solar system in the sky tonight
You can see all the planets in the solar system in the sky tonight
Story by Anugraha Sundaravelu • December 29, 2022It’s a lucky day for skywatchers as all the
planets in our solar system will grace tonight’s night sky, in a rare
astronomical event.
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You can see
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn simultaneously with the naked
eye, while the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, can be
observed with binoculars or a telescope.
Yesterday, Venus, Mercury,
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars could all be seen in that order in the northern
hemisphere with the naked eye, starting from the southwestern horizon and
moving east.
Uranus, located between Mars and
Jupiter, and Neptune, which is between Saturn and Jupiter, can be seen with
binoculars or a telescope until the end of the year.
On Wednesday night, all the planets appeared only 1.5 degrees apart and are set to reach conjunction – their closest point – tonight on Thursday at 9 pm GMT.
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Train your
eyes on the lower part of the sky in the west where you’re most likely to spot
the planets.
The clearest view is expected to
be about 30 minutes after sunset, with Venus disappearing about 40 minutes
later, each day until the end of the year.
Mercury will be the hardest to
spot with the naked eye, as it is sitting in a bright part of the sky. However,
you can still spot it close to its much brighter neighbour, Venus.
The rest
of the planets will line up eastwards, with Jupiter appearing brighter than all
of the stars and high in the southern sky.
Mars will appear red and brighter
than most stars while Saturn, the second largest planet, will be a golden
colour when it appears in the southwest after darkness falls each day until
2023.
Even if you’re an amateur sky
gazer, you can spot the planets with the help of a number of sky-scanning apps.
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