BackFive planets in one line! A cosmic spectacle to appear on March 28. Details here
The five planets won't be in a literal straight line but will be like an arc
PremiumAnother cosmic spectacle is likely to appear in the last week of March. This time five planets, including the moon, would be visible in almost an arc form on 28 March.
Various international media reported this rare astronomical event.
The five planets won't be in a literal straight line but will be like an arc.
What all planets would be visible?
According to a report by Fox News, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus will be visible on 28 March after sunset.
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.
And, Mars will also appear very high in the sky and will have a noticeable hue.
On 1 March, Venus and Jupiter came together in conjunction.
Throughout February, Jupiter and Venus were aligned with the moon and were inching closer to each other.
The conjunction between the planet occurs frequently in the solar system because, "the planets orbit around the Sun in approximately the same plane - the ecliptic plane - and thus trace similar paths across our sky," according to NASA.
Separately, an astronomer last week discovered a new comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). The comet was discovered independently by astronomers at Purple Mountain Observatory in China and the Asteroid Terrestrical-impact Last Alert System, ATLAS. It is currently between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, a billion kilometres from Earth.
It is falling inwards, moving on an orbit that will bring it to within 59 million kilometres of the Sun in September 2024.
The fact the comet was found while it was so far away is part of the reason for astronomers’ excitement.
Although currently some 60,000 times too faint to see with the naked eye, the comet is bright for something so far from the Sun.
And observations suggest it’s following an orbit that could allow it to become truly spectacular.
(With PTI inputs)
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