FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) — When you look up at the night sky, it may look like the stars are lining up, but those aren't stars you see.
At the start of the new year, four planets rotated into our field of vision.
NASA scientists say you can see Venus and Saturn in the southwestern sky without special equipment in the first hours after sunset each evening this month. Jupiter will be overhead and Mars will be visible in the east.
You may notice something else.
The four planets appear to be in a straight line, something some call a planetary parade, but NASA says that's not a technical term. Rather, when planets align, it is called the “ecliptic.” This is “the plane of the solar system in which planets orbit the sun.”
Present Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says in a video that the appearance of planets in a straight line is nothing special, but what is special is the number of planets all visible at the same time.
There is also a surprise in the night sky, but you can only discover it with a telescope.
Uranus and Neptune are also in view. So you can potentially see 6 of the 8 planets in our solar system. We'll let you decide whether to include Pluto.
Visibility depends on several factors: the phase of the moon and of course the cloud cover.
We are approaching the new moon at the end of the month. As February approaches, the light reflected from the moon becomes less of a problem.
However, cloud cover could limit our visibility.
According to the National Weather Service, there are about 19 cloudy days in Fort Wayne during January. So stay tuned to the 21Alive First Alert Weather Team so you can plan your astronomy adventures.
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