Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars will appear in the sky shortly after sunset
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photo for illustration purposes
Heads up, UAE sky watchers! A massive planetary alignment will take place on March 28, as five planets including Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars are expected to line up in a small part of the sky shortly after sunset.
Of the five planets, Venus is expected to be the brightest, while Mercury and Jupiter will be evident near the horizon, while Uranus may be the hardest to spot.
Planetary objects don’t form a perfectly straight line, but from Earth they (plus the Moon) are visible in almost an arc.
Even more exciting, according to astronomers, this alignment of planets can be observed even without any special equipment. However, binoculars are required to spot Uranus.
The astronomical spectacle that took place on March 28 is called a great planetary alignment, when 5 or 6 planets are closely packed together on one side of the sun at the same time. The last time this happened was in June 2022.
In case you missed March 28, several planetary alignments will still be visible from Earth in the coming months:
- April 11 – Alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars
- April 24 – Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars align
- May 29 – Alignment of Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn
- June 17 – Alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn
- July 26 – Mercury, Venus, and Mars align
- August 24th – Sets a minor alignment of Mercury and Mars and Saturn Ascendant