If you’ve dreamed of ticking multiple planets off your bucket list in the one night, here’s a great chance! The Sun will have only just set, but you should still be able to catch a glimpse of Venus and Mercury very low on the western horizon before they disappear from view. As the sky darkens, Saturn and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye. To see Neptune and Uranus, you’ll need a pair of high magnification binoculars or a medium sized telescope.
When and where to look:
7.30pm, 19th February. Look to the western horizon and higher up in the north west, northern and north eastern sky.
Something Interesting:
Planetary alignments, when multiple planets are visible across the night sky in the one evening, happen on a fairly regular basis. There’s always a bit of excitement when it occurs. Planetary alignments of seven planets is rarer than an alignment of six. It’s much rarer still to witness many planets grouping together in the same area of sky. You might have a conjunction or grouping of two planets together, but when five get together, it’s breathtaking! It’s been calculated that a planetary quintuplet will occur on the evening of 8th September 2040! Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury, all naked-eye visible planets, will appear near a very thin crescent Moon after sunset. The bright star of Spica will top of the impressive lineup! Read more about this on Space.com.
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There’s always something interesting happening in the night sky and country WA is the best place to catch all the action.