An artist rendition released by the European Space Agency shows the main bodies of the solar system. Source: Herald Sun
FORGET the hippie-era song that has Jupiter aligning with Mars and love steering the stars. The fact is, those two orbs get together all the time.
The truly remarkable event – when Jupiter lines up with Venus, Mercury and Mars in the pre-dawn sky – will be visible in Australia's eastern sky on Friday.
The alignment of the four planets, which happens only once every 50 to 100 years, will occur just before sunrise, Sydney Observatory says.
"Every couple of years you get two or three planets that come close together, but to have four is particularly rare," the observatory's education officer, Geoffrey Wyatt, said today.
The last time Australians saw such a show was in 1910, and the next occasion would not be until 2056, Mr Wyatt said.
During the alignment, from 5am on Friday, the four planets will be visible just above the horizon in the east.
Early risers have already noticed Jupiter and Venus in the eastern sky before sunrise, Mr Wyatt said.
"It looks pretty much like two headlights coming towards you. We are getting lots of calls already saying there are two bright lights in the sky."
Related> cnngo.com/sydney/play/planets-align-over-friday-13th-sunrise
He wouldn't speculate on how the alignment might influence people, astrologically speaking.
"Astronomers don't put any credence into that, in terms of the force exerted on people," he said.
"A mosquito buzzing around a room is going to have far more effect on you."
Sydney Observatory is hosting a public breakfast viewing with astronomers.
[Source heraldsun]
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“Jupiter lines up with Venus, Mercury and Mars”
On the 13th Venus will still be conjoined with Mercury, and Jupiter will be 2 degrees from them, while Mars will be 6 degrees beyond Jupiter. Those 4 never actually line up as this suggests.
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter were closest to each other May 11th and they will both be close to mars May 21st. The iamge above, is NOT the view of those planets as Saturn is on the opposite side of the sun from those four. Also the ‘line up’ as you call it isn’t just visible from Australia.