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Five
planets line up in stargazing spectacle not to be repeated until 2036
Tue Mar 23, 2:18 PM ET
MARCIA
DUNN
CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Five planets are arrayed across the evening sky in a
spectacular night show that won't be back for another three decades.
For
the next two weeks, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - the five closest
planets - should be easily visible at dusk, along with the moon. "It's
semi-unique," said Myles Standish, an astronomer at Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "They're all on the same side of the sun and
stretched across the sky and that's what is kind of pretty."
Standish
missed Monday evening's opportunity, but said Tuesday that he will gaze up when
he walks his dog this week and next. He expects mountains and bright city lights
to hamper his view, however.
The
planetary lineup will be visible to the naked eye every night for an hour after
sunset through early April. At the end of the year, the same five planets will
reunite for a few weeks, but in the pre-dawn hours.
Standish
said this particular planetary grouping may offer the best nighttime views until
2036.
The
orbits of the five planets take them to the same side of the sun every few years
or so. The conditions have to be just right for all five planets to be clearly
visible at dusk or dawn; Mercury is often tough to catch. Even rarer are
so-called alignments, where the planets are clustered together in the sky; this
is not one of those.
Stargazers
should look to the western horizon just after sunset. Mercury, Venus, Mars and
Saturn will be lined up in the sky with Jupiter close to the eastern horizon.
They will span about 135 degrees. Saturn will be almost directly overhead.
"There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves... Luke 21:25
