Have you seen the planets align this week? Alignments of five or more planets are rare but they did that Tuesday night. Plus there will be two more alignments featuring five or more planets this year and then it won’t happen again until 2040.
Tuesday Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune were visible pretty much in all parts of the globe that had a clear sky.
Tuesday night the planets appeared in an arc from east to west. Most were visible with naked eyes, however, Uranus and Neptune required the use of high-powered binoculars or a backyard telescope.
The best time to view was shortly after sunset and in a light free area.
Mars was in the east directly under the constellation Gemni. Mars was directly between the Earth and the sun so the Red Planet appeared at its biggest and brightest.
With a backyard telescope, viewers were supposed to be able to see the planet’s north polar ice cap which spans more than 600 miles and the Vallis Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system which runs along the Mars equator and is more than 1,800 miles long.
Jupiter was to the west of Mars in the constellation Taurus. The planet was visible to the naked eye but with a telescope its moons were expected to be visible. A telescope also helped one to see its stunning Red Spot, an anticyclone that is more than 10,000 miles wide.
Uranus was about 50 degrees to the west and slightly below Jupiter. It appeared near the Pleiades, a bright star cluster visible to the naked eye.
Uranus was too faint to see without optics.
If you were like this writer not out staring at the sky on a below zero night, you didn’t blow your chance completely.
We are told this alignment will be visible until mid to late February. However the planet’s positions will shift over time.
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