Five planets visible at once in pre-dawn sky

[PotomacCyclist]

Plus you can see Earth, which makes it six planets at once.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/get-up-early-see-five-planets-at-once-01182015/

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Wednesday morning will be mostly cloudy, but Thursday should be clear. Then of course we may be getting the big snowstorm on Fri. and Sat. The skies might be clear again on Sun. and Mon. mornings. This will give you something to do while you’re snowed in over the weekend. The best views might be during the final week of January and the first week of February.

EDIT (2/2/2016) – According to a different article, the best time to see the planets is 80 minutes before sunrise, which would be about 5:53 am this week.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

Early-morning cyclists, look up… but not while you’re moving.

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[PotomacCyclist]

I think all those planets might be visible today around now. I’m heading outside now to see if I can spot them all.

EDIT – 6:40 am was too late. The sunlight was already starting to overshadow the planets. Venus and Jupiter were very clear. I could barely make out Saturn and Mars (which appears reddish, even from this distance). I couldn’t see Mercury though.

It will be cloudy and raining tomorrow morning. It might be cloudy on Thursday morning. The next chance to see all the planets at the same time will probably be on Friday morning.

Planets appear as fixed points of light, whereas stars (other than the Sun) appear to flicker in the sky.

EDIT 2 – This article says that 80 minutes before sunrise is a better time to look. That’s around 5:50 am in DC, this week.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

[PotomacCyclist]

If anyone is awake, I think you can see all five planets in the sky right now. The sun is rising soon and will blur out the light from the planets, so head outside if you’re interested in seeing them all at once.

[Author]

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