How To See 5 Planets Line Up In The Evening Sky With The Moon Tonight

So far 2023 has been a pretty stellar, er… perfectly planetary time for spotting some of the more stunning worlds in our solar system, and Tuesday evening will be no different.

Jupiter and Venus have been lending some brilliant supporting performances to the moon in the night sky for weeks and now you can also catch Mars, Mercury and even shy Uranus as they all form a line with the Moon Tuesday.

You also won’t have to stay up into the wee hours to see the show. NASA astronomer Bill Cooke says to head outside shortly after sunset and look to the west.

Mercury and Jupiter will be closest to the horizon and you’ll have to be prompt to catch them as they’ll be the first to disappear behind the shadow of the Earth roughly 30 minutes after the sun goes down. The other three planets will stretch about halfway up the night sky.

Cooke says you should be able to see this alignment from anywhere on Earth that has clear skies and a view of the horizon.

“That’s the beauty of these planetary alignments. It doesn’t take much,” Cooke told the AP.

To get a better idea of what to look for, I highly recommend checking out Stellarium web or Stellarium mobile. You can input your location and click on “planets tonight” to get a break down of what to expect. You can also adjust the time to see where the planets will be at sunset and when they’ll disappear below the horizon from your location.

While Mercury and Jupiter will just be making a brief appearance after sunset, Venus will be one of the brightest objects in the sky, roughly a third of the distance between Jupiter and the moon.

Greenish Uranus will be hanging out just to the upper left of Venus. You may want to get out binoculars or a backyard telescope to get a better look at this rarely spotted planet.

Charming red dot Mars will be visible just below the moon to round out the quintet.

It doesn’t get much easier than this to spot five of the other seven planets whipping around the sun with us. Enjoy!

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