Astronomical spectacle: Five planets ‘march in line’

In a rare planetary conjunction, five planets were in line under the moon visible by the naked eye shortly after the sunset on Wednesday.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus were in line near the moon. Stargazers told The Express Tribune that the sight will be clearer after sunset on Friday.

Most of the planets will be visible to the naked eye even in urban areas, but some will not be visible without a telescope.

According to astronomers, this phenomenon will be visible for the next two weeks. The appearance of these five planets in a line occurs after every few years. The last time it happened was in 2004.

"The planets aren't aligned right now, they are all spread out across the Solar System but just from our perspective, every once in a while they get close enough to each other in the sky that we're able to see quite a few at once," BBC quoted Astronomer Jake Foster from Royal Observatory Greenwich as saying about the rare occurrence.

How to watch the five planets?

The five planets should be visible along the waxing crescent moon.

Jupiter will appear brighter than Mercury. Venus would be the brightest planet among the whole group. Venus will be brighter to the upper left of Jupiter and Mercury.

Venus would be visible through the naked eye as it will dazzle the most among all the other planets. Uranus would be the most difficult to find without visual aids. Uranus will appear near Venus but very faintly.

Further, Mars will also appear very high in the sky and will have a noticeable hue.

“Wait until the sun has set and then go out and look low in that bright part of the sky where the sun has just set with binoculars, and you should see brighter Jupiter next to fainter Mercury," said Rick Feinberg, senior contributing editor at Sky & Telescope magazine to NPR.