Five of the planets- Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars- will be in alignment with The Moon this week! The best time to see this interstellar hang-out will be on Tuesday, March 28th. According to NASA astronomer Bill Cooke, your best bet is to look to the western horizon right after sunset. Since the planets will stretch from the horizon line to roughly halfway up into the night sky. But you may have to hurry, because Mercury and Jupiter drop below the horizon about a half hour after the sun sets.
The bright side is this planetary alignment can be seen from anywhere on Earth. The only major requirement is clear skies and a view of the west. Star gazers may not even need binoculars since Jupiter, Venus, and Mars shine brightly, making them easy to spot. Venus will probably be one of the brightest things in the night sky. Mars will also be hanging out by the moon, which should help viewers find it. “That’s the beauty of these planetary alignments. It doesn’t take much,” said Cooke.
The trickier ones will be Mercury and Uranus since they are dimmer and may require some technical assistance. Uranus is also a pretty rare sighting in the night sky but it can be identified via a green glow and should sit just above Venus.
Despite what our elementary school science fair projects told us, the planets don’t normally sit perfectly aligned. But it’s far from unheard of for certain groupings to line up from time to time. Just last summer and this past June there were five planet lineups, just made up of different celestial bodies. These kinds of alignments happen when the planets’ orbits line them up on one side of the sun from Earth’s perspective.
Best of luck to any star gazers that want to take a peek at this unique planetary event.
