No Telescope Needed! Five Planets and a Rare Comet Can Be Seen This Weekend

This Sunday, watch out for a spectacular show in the early morning skies. In one of the rare occurrences, planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the crescent moon will be close and bright enough to be seen by the naked eye on the early morning of July 19. Watch out for the newly-discovered comet, Neowise, as well as it only comes after 7,000 years. 

To make sure that you see the show, you would need to set your alarm at least an hour before sunrise and "find a spot with clear horizons in the east-northeast and the southwest, "astronomer Dr. Jeffrey Hunter advises. 

Hunt said the four planets - Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter should look like an overly bright star.

The Jupiter may be seen in the sky two hours before sunrise in the southwestern sky and is expected to be brighter than Mars but low in the sky. 

 Saturn, which has that ring feature, is seen about 7 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter. It would appear dimmer than Jupiter.  

Venus will also be easy to spot as it will look particularly bright in the eastern sky. A star named Aldebaran should be close to it.

The moon will be very low in the east-northeast, and Venus should be spotted on the right of Venus. It would appear a very thin crescent moon, with only one percent illumination and is set very low in the east-northeast. Using a binocular to spot the moon might help. 

Mars would look distinct as the "lone star" in the southeast horizon.

The Mercury will, however, be a little bit difficult to spot, and one might need the help of telescope and binoculars to see it. Mercury will also be visible 45 minutes before sunrise in the northeast direction, right of the moon.

The Jupiter may look big enough that one may likely see it without a telescope or binoculars but might be able to spot one or two of its largest moon if we use them.

Hunt cautioned that the planets will not look like the planet photos made by spacecraft, but the planets would appear as overly bright stars.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are also in the sky between Venus and Jupiter, but a telescope is necessary to see these planets.

Hunter said that in the next mornings, the five planets are still visible sans the moon. It is also important to note that Jupiter leaves the sky quickly. The five planets are visible in the sky until July 25. 

The four bright planets: Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, will also still be available until the middle of August if one looks them up the sky two hours before sunrise.

Also to Watch Out for: Comet Neowise

While looking for the five planets and the moon, look for the new Neowise Comet as well. The comet has been putting up a beautiful show hours before sunrise in the Northern Hemisphere this month.

Comet Neowise or C2020 F3 NEOWISE, a reasonably large comet, was discovered in March.

On July 3, Neowise got close to the sun than Mercury, causing the comet's icy make-up to heat up, erupting into a large debris gas and dust trail. The comet is composed of matters dating back to 4.6 billion years ago, according to scientists. The planet takes about 6,800 years to complete its revolution around the sun, NASA said.  

It will be about 7,000 before the comet returns before we may see the comet again, making it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The comet will appear in the evening just after sunset starting Saturday. To look for it, look at the northwestern sky, below Ursa Major or Big Dipper constellation.