The solar system is putting on an incredible display tonight! Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars can all currently be seen in that order with the naked eye, starting from the southwestern horizon and moving east.
Uranus, located between Mars and Jupiter, and Neptune, which is between Saturn and Jupiter, can also be seen with binoculars or a telescope.
Every planet in the Solar System is in the evening sky right now. A rare viewing opportunity!
My shot from last evening in Charlottesville – I labeled all the naked-eye visible planets, and marked where the other are located (visible with telescopes). pic.twitter.com/RWZpCZBWGG
— Peter Forister ❄️💨❄️ (@forecaster25) December 28, 2022
For Mercury and Venus, look out low in the west about half an hour after sunset. Venus will disappear about 40 minutes after this window!
The rest of the planets line up eastwards, with Jupiter appearing brighter than all the stars and high in the southern sky.
Gianluca Masi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project, told Newsweek: ‘These nights, we can see all the planets of our solar system at a glance, soon after sunset.
‘It happens from time to time, but it is always a spectacular sight.’
