From now
until the middle of next month, a celestial spectacle will be
visible to those who look to the eastern horizon at dawn.
Five planets
- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter - will appear together
in the sky for the first time in a decade, and they will be visible
to the naked eye in the early hours until Feb 20.
The best time
to view the planets is in the early morning, between 5.45am and
6.15am, said Mr Albert Lim, assistant honorary secretary of the
Astronomical Society of Singapore (Tasos).
According to
science website EarthSky.org, this is the first time since 2005
that all five planets are appearing in the sky atthe same
time.
He said: "It
doesn't matter where you are. As long as you are at a location with
a clear view of the eastern horizon, you will be able to see the
planets, subject to weather and cloud conditions."
The planet
closest to the horizon will be Mercury, followed by Venus, Saturn,
Mars and Jupiter, in an upward arc.
The moon will
join the group on Wednesday next week , the Science Centre
Observatory said in a Facebook post yesterday.
On that day,
the moon will be above Jupiter, which will be "more or less
directly overhead at 6.30am", the post said.
Jupiter and
Venus are the brightest of the planets. "Use these two planets to
locate the others - Mars will be halfway between Jupiter and Venus,
and Saturn will be approximately halfway between Venus and Mars,"
the observatory added.
According to
science website EarthSky.org, this is the first time since 2005
that all five planets are appearing in the sky at the same
time.
Mr Jason
Kendall, who sits on the board of the Amateur Astronomers
Association of New York, said people may find it hard to
differentiate the planets from twinkling stars, reported the New
York Times.
He offered a
simple tip: Close one eye, stretch out your arm and slowly pass
your thumb over a bright dot in the sky. If the dot slowly dims out
when your thumb passes over it, it is a planet. If it quickly
blinks out, it is a distant star.
Engineer Leon
Chen, 25, who is planning to catch the spectacle this weekend, said
he is looking forward to seeing the planets.
He said: "As
an amateur astronomer, I am really excited to see such a dazzling
display of lights in the sky."
