Five Planets Visible For One Month In Early Morning Hours

First Posted: Jan 21, 2016 10:24 AM EST
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Go grab your telescopes, you're not going to want to miss this! Five planets will appear together at once in the morning sky starting from Jan. 20, and will continue to be visible until Feb. 20. This event has not occurred in a decade.  Mercury, Venus, MarsJupiter and Saturn will be visible and can be seen all at once just before dawn, and will be visible before dawn until Feb. 20, according to a news release.

All five bright planets were last seen together in the same sky between Dec. 15, 2004 and Jan. 15, 2005, over a decade ago.

Bright or visible planet indicates that a planet from the solar system can be easily seen without the use of optical instruments or aid and that they have been observed for ages by previous generations.

The planets' outer alignment from the sun is Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. They can be seen easily in the sky since their disks reflect sunlight. These close-by planets tend to be shiny with steadier light compared to distant twinkling stars.

These planets can be seen before dawn, with Jupiter showing up first during the evening hours and Mars appearing after midnight followed by Saturn, Venus and Mercury.

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