Five major planets our solar system lined in a row over the weekend in a celestial event called a conjunction. In many parts the world, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn could be seen the naked eye (without the need a telescope). The rare planetary conjunction was visible clear skies before dawn. The AccuWeather website said the best time to view this event was about an hour sunrise. Astronomer Professor Lucie Green described the event as being, " a string of pearls spread from close to the horizon". Professor Green was particularly happy seeing Mercury, which is usually hard to spot. She said: "It is very satisfying [to] see this faint twinkling planet."
AccuWeather said a conjunction this order would not be visible Earth again another 20 years. The next time it will happen will be August 2040. It said this planetary event was special because the planets appeared the order they are positioned the sun, with Saturn being the farthest and Mercury the nearest. Another astronomer, Dr Diana Hannikainen, said the conjunction was noteworthy Friday morning as a crescent moon accompanied the five planets. She said the alignment was a "delightful sight". The conjunction is rare because the five planets all have different orbits the sun. Mercury takes 88 days to orbit the sun, while Saturn takes 29 years.
