Fab Five. A Handful Of Planets Will Be Visible As They Line Up Near The Moon This Week. 

If you want to feel like a big-time astronomer without going to college for years, look in the sky near the moon tomorrow night, and you could very well catch a glimpse of five planets all at once. 

The fab five are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars — gaze up towards the western horizon just past sunset and be prepared to be amazed. (Assuming it’s not cloudy where you live).

It won’t last long; Mercury and Jupiter are quickly appearing and then saying, “we’re out.”  Don’t worry; a plane ticket to the other side of the globe isn’t necessary, as this alignment will be visible in all parts of Earth. 

Bring binoculars if you can. You might need them to spot Mercury and Uranus. They will be a bit dimmer than Jupiter, Venus, and Mars. Those three should be shining bright. Look for a reddish glow to identify Mars. 

It’s not often Uranus is visible, so people who are into sky-watching are pretty geeked about getting a glimpse at it tomorrow. You can identify it because of its green glow.  It will be stationed right above Venus. 

The people who will get the best view of this rare phenomenon are people who live where there is an unobstructed view of the horizon.  Here’s what Rick Fienberg of Sky & Telescope magazine told NPR. 

“Wait until the sun has set and then go out and look low in that bright part of the sky where the sun has just set with binoculars, and you should see brighter Jupiter next to fainter Mercury,”