Skywatchers await a cosmic treat this month: a rare alignment of four planets in the pre-dawn sky.
Starting around Sunday morning, stargazers will be able to see Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn appear in a straight line across the southeast sky before sunrise. The mid-month alignment is a relatively unusual opportunity for people to see multiple planets in the sky with the naked eye – a precursor to a rare planetary alignment that will occur this summer.
To see the planetary quartet, northern hemisphere sky watchers must head outside about an hour before sunrise and look to the southeast, in the direction of sunrise.
Looking east on the flat horizon, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn will appear ‘pointed in a line across the morning sky’ According to NASA. If the conditions were clear, all four planets would be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, without the aid of binoculars or telescopes.
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