It’s time to watch five bright planets in early morning sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are five bright and naked eye visible planets shining brilliantly. Around an hour before sunrise these planets which have been observed since ancient times, will appear in a line. This starts with Jupiter from high north to Mercury at low east and then Sun will come to disappear all these planets visibly.
You can find five bright planets in early morning sky from 20th Jan to 20th Feb 2016. Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus have been in the morning sky since the beginning of the year. Jupiter is bright in the north, then comes reddish Mars, later pale Saturn and then brilliant Venus shines above in the eastern horizon. At last the appearance of faint Mercury makes the family complete.
Image: The Conversation with help of Stellarium
Mercury has just transitioned to morning sky from an evening sky. It is faintest planet among all five naked eye planets. It will appear quite low to the eastern horizon and it results into its low magnitude. It will appear faint at first. As it will rise higher each morning, it will shine more in February. On 07 Feb, Mercury will be at greatest elongation 25.6°W.
As full moon goes towards its crescent phase, it gets easy to point out planets. On 28 January, the moon will be right next to Jupiter in Virgo constellation. Then moon from last quarter i.e., on February 1, will be near to mars in Libra constellation. On the morning of February 4, the crescent moon will be near Saturn in Scorpius constellation. After then on February 6, moon will be along with Venus. On February 7, moon will be just below to Mercury. Both Venus and Mercury are in Sagittarius constellation. Since Mercury will appear very close to the horizon, find a nice open spot, away from tall buildings or trees. Also try to avoid light pollution and go away from city light.
The line drawn from position of these five bright planets, follows the ecliptic. And then Sun also follows this ecliptic path. This is apparent path but what are actual positions of these planets?
See image below.
You don’t need any instrument to see this planet dance. Your eyes and curiosity are enough to enjoy. Just come out from your bed on early morning and follow above dates when moon will passes with these planets. Additionally you can take advantages of technology also. There are lots of stargazing apps, virtual planetariums to help you figure out exactly where to look. Just hope it’s not cloudy.
You can add more beauty if you will trying to watch satellite passes on same time. As you will watching early morning sky, satellites may shine by reflecting sunlight from specific angle/location and for specific period only. Hubble Space Telescope (HST), International Space Station (ISS), Iridium Satellites and many more are visible. You can take help with sources like Heavens Above, NASA’s Spot the Station or Stellarium.
Almost after 10 years, these five planets will come together in the sky. All these five bright planets appeared in the same sky together was from about December 15, 2004 to January 15, 2005. Unfortunately if you don’t catch this alignment in Jan-Feb 2016, don’t panic, you will be able to see it again in August 13 to 19, 2016 and again in October 2018.