The seven planets of the Solar System (in addition to the Earth) are during this week visible at sunset also forming an apparent alignment on an imaginary curved line – never perfect – on the horizon.
Five of them are also visible to the naked eye with clear skies, since the west appears in the first place Mercury, very close to Saturn and continuing the arch of an imaginary ecliptic line can be observed Venus, Jupiter and Mars, according to the data of the Spanish Astronomical Observatory (OAN), which stressed that it is an unusual occasion because it allows you to see up to five of these stars simultaneously.
To those five are added two more, Uranus and Neptune, but in this case only visible with a telescope, in a conjunction – only apparent – unusual but that has nothing to do with “millenary alignments.”
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Nightless planet sighting.
They constitute a beautiful optical effect, and even a unique opportunity for astronomy fans to contemplate with the naked eye and photograph planets, but the apparent alignment or planetary conjunction, which began in January and will be extended until the first days of March, is not exceptional astronomical event or has a special scientific interest.
The apparent planetary alignment began in January with four planets (Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars) and during the last days it has joined that “parade”, and with the possibility of seeing itself also to the naked eye, the tiny mercury, the smallest of the solar system and the most difficult to see due to its proximity to the sun.
The planetary “alignments” have always been surrounded by a halo of mysticism very far from the scientific rigor, and although some of them have been recorded as “historical” -as of 1982 -, science has shown that in reality that perfect conjunction of the eight planets is never produced.
With EFE information.
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