"Six planets will assemble themselves for a spectacular planetary parade that can be seen all over the world—provided you have clear skies. Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter will all be visible to the naked eye for between a half-hour and an hour around twilight, appearing in that order stretching upward from the horizon shortly after sunset."
"The planets all sail about the sun in more or less the same plane, because they all formed from the same disc of swirling gas and dust that was left behind when our sun was born. All their orbits are different, but every few years chance places them all roughly on the same side of the sun."
A rare planetary alignment occurs this Saturday, featuring six planets visible from Earth in a single night sky. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter will be observable to the naked eye for approximately 30 to 60 minutes around twilight, appearing in sequence ascending from the western horizon shortly after sunset. Uranus and Neptune, the ice giants, will also participate but require telescopes to view due to their dimness. Mars is absent from this celestial parade. Optimal viewing requires high-altitude, cloud-free locations since all visible planets will appear relatively low on the horizon. This alignment occurs because all planets orbit within roughly the same plane, formed from the same primordial disk of gas and dust surrounding the young sun.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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