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Credit & Copyright: Mihail Minkov
Explanation:
It is not a coincidence that planets line up.
That's because all of the
planets
orbit the
Sun in (nearly)
a single sheet called the plane of the
ecliptic.
When viewed from inside that plane -- as
Earth dwellers are likely to do --
the planets all appear confined to a
single band.
It is a coincidence, though, when
three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction.
Such a coincidence was captured about a month ago.
Featured above,
Earth's Moon,
Mars,
Saturn, and
Jupiter were all
imaged together,
just before sunrise, from the
Black Sea coast of
Bulgaria.
A second band is
visible diagonally across this image -- the central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy.
If you wake up early, you will find that these same planets
remain
visible in the morning sky this month, too.
Astrophysicists:
Browse 2,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: planets
Publications with words: planets
See also: