You can see every planet in our solar system this week



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This week, there will be some not-so-familiar sights in the sky: the seven planets that make up our solar system will be visible at different times of the day.

Venus and Mercury are bright enough to be seen in the morning, while Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be easier to see at night.

Earth Sky has published a guide to viewing all of these planets, as well as Uranus, on its website.

Joe Guzman, an astronomer and educator at After School Matters in Chicago, has previously spoken to his students about this week’s celestial phenomenon.

“Early this morning, I took the time to take a look at the crescent moon,” Guzman told CNN. “And when the sun goes down tonight, you will certainly be able to see Jupiter and Saturn.”

Why is this happening?

The visibility of the planets is only a cosmic coincidence.

“It’s the dance of the planets around the sun,” Guzman said. “It’s a natural occurrence, and it happens every now and then. It’s not uncommon, but it’s infrequent. It just happens that they stay on this side of the sun, but they’ll soon start to separate again. . ”

In the meantime, Guzman thinks everyone should get their hands on a telescope. Sky & Telescope reported that the sale of telescopes had already increased since the start of the pandemic, with companies seeing “a 60% to 400% increase in their activity from the previous year.”

Guzman recommends that novice sky-watchers be on the lookout for Saturn, his personal favorite.

“You can grab his rings quite easily,” Guzman said. “Definitely worth watching.”

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