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See five bright planets in the morning sky

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Early risers have a rare chance to see all 5 bright planets in the morning sky. Look about 45 minutes before the sunrise.

Mercury appears above the ENE horizon, getting higher each day for the next 2 weeks. Once you see Mercury, you can see 5 bright planets at once all lined up across the morning sky. From our vantage point the 5 planets appear lined up in the same order they are from the sun - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The last time this alignment happened was in 2002. The next time this happens is in 2040.

The best time to view the 5 planets is in morning twilight about 45 minutes before sunrise. You need a clear view of the eastern to southern horizon. The 5 planets basically stretch about halfway across the morning sky.

How do you tell planets from stars? Generally, stars twinkle and planets do not.

You can easily pick out Venus as the brightest object in the morning sky. Mercury starts the planet parade low on the eastern horizon and is to the lower left of brilliant Venus. Next in line is Jupiter as the second brightest star in the morning sky and is about halfway up in the SE sky. Saturn and Mars aren’t as bright so will be tougher to find as the sky brightens. Mars will appear as a reddish star to the lower left of Jupiter. Saturn wraps up the planetary lineup almost directly due south as a creamy star above and to the far right of Jupiter. A stargazing app can help you locate the planets.

The moon visits the morning planets as well. The moon is near Saturn on June 18, Jupiter on June 21, Mars on June 22, Venus on June 26 and Mercury on June 27.

Making this even more rare is although Uranus and Neptune are not visible to the naked eye, they are also right there among the 5 bright planets. Neptune is between Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is between Venus and Mars. Good binoculars or a telescope can hunt down these distant planets using a good star chart.

All 5 planets remain visible until early July when Mercury drops from the scene. Don’t forget to look down and see another planet below your feet - Earth!

I saw all 5 this morning about 30 minutes before sunrise in bright twilight.

I hope some of you get to see them!
 

Daisys and Diamonds

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Apr 30, 2019
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Early risers have a rare chance to see all 5 bright planets in the morning sky. Look about 45 minutes before the sunrise.

Mercury appears above the ENE horizon, getting higher each day for the next 2 weeks. Once you see Mercury, you can see 5 bright planets at once all lined up across the morning sky. From our vantage point the 5 planets appear lined up in the same order they are from the sun - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The last time this alignment happened was in 2002. The next time this happens is in 2040.

The best time to view the 5 planets is in morning twilight about 45 minutes before sunrise. You need a clear view of the eastern to southern horizon. The 5 planets basically stretch about halfway across the morning sky.

How do you tell planets from stars? Generally, stars twinkle and planets do not.

You can easily pick out Venus as the brightest object in the morning sky. Mercury starts the planet parade low on the eastern horizon and is to the lower left of brilliant Venus. Next in line is Jupiter as the second brightest star in the morning sky and is about halfway up in the SE sky. Saturn and Mars aren’t as bright so will be tougher to find as the sky brightens. Mars will appear as a reddish star to the lower left of Jupiter. Saturn wraps up the planetary lineup almost directly due south as a creamy star above and to the far right of Jupiter. A stargazing app can help you locate the planets.

The moon visits the morning planets as well. The moon is near Saturn on June 18, Jupiter on June 21, Mars on June 22, Venus on June 26 and Mercury on June 27.

Making this even more rare is although Uranus and Neptune are not visible to the naked eye, they are also right there among the 5 bright planets. Neptune is between Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is between Venus and Mars. Good binoculars or a telescope can hunt down these distant planets using a good star chart.

All 5 planets remain visible until early July when Mercury drops from the scene. Don’t forget to look down and see another planet below your feet - Earth!

I saw all 5 this morning about 30 minutes before sunrise in bright twilight.

I hope some of you get to see them!

I know
i gotta get up early and take a look :lol-2:
Maybe tomorrow - but its warm in my bed
Actually probably Saturday walking to work - but rain is forecast :(2

im not sure if you would see this like we do in the southern hemisphere but we are about to get a brand new public holiday thanks to the stars
 

marcy

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@Daisys and Diamonds i hope you get a chance to see the planets. From your point of view they will line straight up in the sky, with Mercury hugging the horizon then going up through Saturn.

That is so interesting about your Martariki holiday. We call that cluster Pleiades here. It is beautiful and definitely a sight I look for every time I’m stargazing.
 

LilAlex

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Mar 3, 2018
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I saw all 5 this morning about 30 minutes before sunrise in bright twilight.

That is awesome! Six, actually, if you looked down.

Our skies have not been clear enough.
 

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I hope you get some clear skies @LilAlex
 

kenny

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... Six, actually, if you looked down. ...

LOL :lol-2:

Seven, actually, if you are where you can see a Planet Hollywood restaurant.
Eight, actually, if you are where you can see both a Planet Hollywood, and Planet Fitness gym. ;-)
Nine, on the rare chance there is a planetarium in the same view.

And of course since none of our solar system's planets emit their own light when we see them we are actually seeing reflection of our sun's light - so if the sun is considered to be a planet (I doubt it) that would make ten.

When you can see something in a mirror it can be argued that you can see it.
The planets act as mirrors for our sun's light.
 
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