The line-up of three evening planets in the southwest twilight sky, with Jupiter at top left, Venus at bottom right and dimmer Saturn middle. Photo: Alan Dyer / StockTrek Images / AFP
Skygazers will have the opportunity to see six planets on Saturday, weather permitting, according to NASA.
This planetary parade occurs due to the alignment of the planets' orbits around the sun, said Heidi Haviland, a planetary scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye, whereas Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or a telescope. Viewers do not have to worry about wearing protective eyewear, as they would to watch a solar eclipse.
The event is visible anywhere on Earth, with the best views at twilight. Early birds should try to glimpse the planetary parade before sunrise, and for night owls, the best visibility will be right after sunset, Haviland said.
The best viewing times vary by location.
The planets need to be about 10 degrees or higher above the horizon to be visible. If they are too low, they will be obscured by Earth's atmosphere, she added.
The planetary parade is a reminder of how planets orbit around the sun and how their positions relative to Earth vary - a key factor scientists consider when planning missions to other planets, such as Mars, Haviland noted.
"The InSight mission had to wait a full year for the Earth and Mars to align to their closest approach, so planetary orbits and their position to the Earth play an important role in mission design," she said, referring to the NASA programme that sent a robotic lander to Mars in 2018.
Haviland shared a few tips for identifying the planets during the upcoming display.
"Typically, Venus is the first one that pops up," she said, adding that it would be the brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon, and would have a steady, brilliant white glow on the western horizon after sunset.
Mars would show up as a red dot, and Saturn would have a yellowish hue. If you looked high overhead, you would be able to find Jupiter.
Mercury would be the hardest to spot without visual aids, but your best chance to see it was about 30-60 minutes after local sunset, Haviland said. The smallest planet in our solar system would appear white and would be low on the horizon.
For the best view, avoid city lights and hope for clear skies, said Joel Wallace, public information officer at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
On Tuesday, a total lunar eclipse would be visible for those in Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the Americas.
The moon would appear red, which was why it's referred to as a 'blood moon'. The event marked the last total lunar eclipse visible from North America until December 2028.
On 31 May, skygazers could look forward to a blue moon, the second full moon in one calendar month.
Despite its name, the moon would not appear blue in colour. It happened every two-and-a-half to three years, or 'once in a blue moon'.
On 8 and 9 June, two bright planets - Venus and Jupiter - would appear in the sky only a pinky finger distance apart from our perspective on Earth, despite being millions of miles from one another.
They would be visible to the naked eye, according to NASA.
- CNN
