Well five of them anyway:
Five Planets Will Clump Together in April, May
Tue Apr 2, 6:00 PM ET
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The five so-called naked eye
planets -- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn --
will appear to clump together later this month in a
sight that might not be seen again for a century.
But don't call this a planetary alignment. And even
though this is fairly rare, there is nothing for
earthlings to worry about, astronomer Geoff Chester of
the U.S. Naval Observatory said on Tuesday.
The grouping of the five will begin to be visible with
unaided eyes around April 20, with the planets
clustered closest by around May 4, Chester said by
telephone.
"It is an opportunity to see all five of the naked eye
planets in the same part of the sky at the same time
and that does not happen very often," Chester said.
It could be 50 or 100 years before this happens again,
he said.
The display should be easy to see in most parts of the
inhabited world, weather permitting, though those at
extreme northern and southern latitudes may need
binoculars or a small telescope, and Mercury could
still be hard to spot, he said.
A similar grouping of the same five planets, plus the
moon, occurred on May 5, 2000, accompanied by dire
predictions of extraordinary tides and other
cataclysms. Earth survived.
However, that cluster occurred on the opposite side of
the Sun from Earth, and the Sun's light was so bright
the planets could not be seen from Earth.
This time, most humans should have a good view,
Chester said.
What they should be able to see will be Mercury,
Venus, Mars and Saturn all grouped within the span of
10 degrees of the sky, or about the width of a fist
held at arm's length.
Jupiter will be a bit higher in the sky, about three
fist-widths away, but still quite close.
The cluster will start to dissipate around May 12,
Chester said, when Mercury will dip closer to the
horizon and become less visible.
This grouping is only the planets people can see
without help, and does not count as an alignment,
according to Chester, though others have used that
term.
Chester considers a true alignment to be when all the
planets are on the same side of the sun, and grouped
within about 90 degrees -- nine fist-widths -- of each
other, or closer. This occurs once in several hundred
years.
The closest known planetary alignment in the last two
millennia occurred on April 11, 1128, before most
planets were identified as such, including Earth,
according to Chester.
Boomo arigatou gazaimash ita! and have a nice day!
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