Exceptional alignment of 5 planets

For several weeks, we had to get up early Links Such as planets and other celestial bodiesLunar eclipse And this Shooting Star Storm tau Hercules (Last Monday)!

Now, a week later Tuesday passed Thursday AtDawn In one corner of the sky, there are five planets The Solar System At the end of the night they appear together towards the east. The five planets are exactly visibleEye Plain, including very bright Thursday And Venus. Of course, this is not the first time we have praised them this year Gathered at the same timeBut the novelty – if anyone says so – is that they will be delivered in their true distant order for the coming weeks. The sunThis has not happened – in Earth’s view – since December 2004.

Mercury is currently the closest planet to Earth

So when you put Nose After 4 a.m., do you see yourself lined up on the imaginary line?Eclipse (MapAround the circular path Planets) from the lowest to the highest on the horizon: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Mercury And, but this Friday, June 3, it will arrive just before sunrise, so it will still be very low, making it very difficult to distinguish the blazing light of dawn. Next week will be much better when it rises.

In parentheses, as we speak MercuryBe very careful Small planet The Solar System – the closest to the Sun – is currently the closest to Earth. This is not Venus or Mars, but Mercury with 92 million kilometers (only) separates us from it today, against Venus 184.6 million and our regular neighbor Mars 216 million. Naturally, this is constantly changing in the rhythm of each of the revolutions.

Of the five visible planets, Saturn first appears at 2 am. It was followed by Thursday and Tuesday, just above the east, an hour and a half later.

Gift from Heaven: Five planets aligned in 2018

Article of Xavier Dimmersman Released October 17, 2018

What a surprise in the sky of this beginningFall, Very soft. As the sun sets, you can see the appearance of five bright planets. But it’s not just them …

This summer, especially JulyAll the planets in the solar system, except Earth, were visible at night. Some without tools or others with the help of a telescope or Telescopes. Even a comet was hilarious with the limit of naked eye sight (C / 2017 S3 Panstarrs) And a popular Asteroid (Vista) …

Three months later, at night all the planets reunite. As the sun goes down and the sky is full of stars, you can easily see the five bright ones. Venus And Wednesday first, in the first light Twilight. However, this is in the range because they both go very quickly as they are very low on the horizon. Also, to get the best opportunity to observe them, it is necessary to favor sites with very clear western horizons.

The moon calls itself in the middle of the aligned planets

Slightly higher in the sky, you will notice Jupiter “glowing” above the southwest horizon. The The giant planet Is one Stars Of course the evening with the moon and Mars is bright. The moon, precisely, imposes itself in the middle of this alignment of the planets. This evening, October 17th, it will see radiation between Saturn and Mars. Tomorrow evening, he calls himself near the Red Planet, being faithful in his path and slightly “older” than the first quarter. See how the latter shines with vigor. Admittedly, not in the middle of summer, but its glowing glow still penetrates the night.

Neptune is further east in Aquarius. But to distinguish it, it is better to arm yourself with a pair of telescopes or, of course, a telescope or binoculars. The same For Uranus, Another distant planet, is coming out of the horizon these days while others are drowning in it. We add that too PlutoConsidered a dwarf planet, it shines dimly between Saturn and Mars.

Comets to observe in the autumn sky

Finally, remember that Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner Its celestial ride continues. She is now in dazzling proximity SeriousIn the Great Dog. One piece of advice: wait until the end of the night until it rises high enough in the sky to believe you want to see it (on an instrument).

And do not miss, especially in the next few weeks: 46P / Wirtanen. He was declared the “Comet of the Year”. Nothing is missing! On December 16, Wirdanen will be the tenth comet closest to Earth since the 1950s. At the time, many experts believed it was visible to the naked eye. For now, she is still traveling wisely in the depths of autumn night. Constellation Of the furnace. Beautiful view in view.

Beautiful alignment of planets to watch out for until February 20th

Xavier Dimmersman’s article published on January 21, 2016

Note to all interested, especially those who wake up early: At the end of the night for a month between January 20 and February 20, 2016 the five brightest planets are visible together. Very rare you do not need a tool to enjoy this. Planetary alignment. On specific dates, the waning moon will shine along with them.

Astrumவானுலக; asters planetsWandering star. “The word planet came into being planasthai“Wandering here and there, leaving the path” WroteAstronomer Daniel Kund in his book Words from heaven (CNRS version). In the celestial sky, we know some of these wandering stars that are differentiated from the so-called “fixed” visible stars, as our ancestors observed thousands of years ago (in Babylon, China and elsewhere and before that …). In Constellation, By their movement. At the very least, with the naked eye, their movements are, in many cases, felt from one week to another. This is one of the ways to make a difference with others Lighting fixtures. We now know that there is a nature to these bright spots Body Is different from distant stars (planets are the daughters of stars, “children of the sun”) and they all orbit the path of the eclipse, twelve and thirteen stars. Zodiac sign (Ophicuhus thirteenth), because it orbits the sun.

On the eight planets of the solar system (and may even be New According to the latest news, the five are visible without tools: Wednesday, Friday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (as a reminder, they are associated with five of the seven days of the week). Uranus and NeptuneTheir great distance with the earth always prevents them from being distinguished by the naked eye.

Very Rare Situation: At the end of the night, between January 20 and February 20, 2016, five of these wandering stars are visible. In fact, when Mercury rises (which is near the southeastern horizon), about an hour before the sun casts its first rays, we can only see with our own eyes that all these planets are aligned in a celestial space between the southeast. And west, southwest.

The times when the planets come into alignment

Of course, to take advantage of this relatively rare scene (the last time this happened was between December 15, 2004 and January 15, 2005), Light impurity Because it is harmful to the brightness of the stars, and if there is a tool on each of these stars, point it out. For example, with a simple binocular, you can distinguish the phases of the shining Venus or the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter (discovered) Galileo)

The latter only opens the ball. At this time, the giant planet is emerging from the eastern horizon just before 10 pm (French metropolitan time), which shows many more.Astronomers Lovers bravely facing the winter cold with its striped equatorial bands, the Transportation His Red dot And, of course, the ballet of its moons (visible in the binoculars). Four hours later, just before 2 p.m., March Red joins her. Then entering the scene is Saturn’s turn, at 4:45 a.m., followed by Venus an hour later (at 6 p.m.). Finally, when Mercury appears in the dawn light, the five protagonists reunite.

Note that the waning moon will alternate between these planets until February 6th. Gibbs first with Jupiter on January 27th and 28th, then passes on January 30th. Spica (Virgo’s brightest star), on February 1, it appears in the last quarter with Mars, and two nights later, on February 3, it shines near Saturn. Finally, on February 5th and 6th the beautiful and elegant lunar crescent will be visible not far from Venus and Mercury. Let us add that those who are more savvy in trying to observe a small body of the solar system will undoubtedly use it: Comet C / 2013 US10 (Catalina). Almost visible to the naked eye due to its activity at the beginning of this new year, the star continues its journey towards the boundaries of the solar system. Giraffe And and Little Tipper.

Come back to the meeting of these five planets at the end of the night and find out if there are reasons Weather report Or not available, you can not appreciate them, you can catch up with the new alignment of the five planets this summer, this time at the beginning of the night, between August 13 and 19. At the same time, many interested people will watch the last breathYear Rain of shooting stars Perseids.

For those who don’t already, remember that you can simulate the sky as well Movement The planets on you Computer (Mac OS, Windows or Linux) With Software Free Stellarium. As well as through multiple applications Smartphones (iOS And android), In which we a Choose Last summer.