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Moon, 8 planets line up for sky show
December 1, 1997
Web posted at: 8:11 p.m. EST (0111 GMT)MIAMI (AP) -- The moon and eight of the planets will be lined up in the sky this week "like pearls on a string" in a sight that won't be visible again from Earth for at least another century.
"It's quite beautiful, an exquisite grouping of the moon and planets," said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of the public television program "Star Hustler." "This is naked-eye astronomy at its best."
Beginning Monday night and continuing through December 8, the planets will appear in the southwestern sky in a line slanting upward from the horizon. From west to east, Pluto will be followed by Mercury, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn, with a crescent moon alongside.
Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye, with Venus and Jupiter by far the brightest. A good pair of binoculars will be needed to see the small blue dots that are Uranus and Neptune. Pluto will be visible only by telescope.
Horkheimer, whose syndicated show has been running for 21 years, said that the five bright planets should be visible even in urban areas on a clear night and that the array can be seen all around the world.
The heavenly bodies will be "all lined up like pearls on a string," he said.
He said the planets will be similarly aligned in May 2000, but they will be so close to the sun that they won't all be visible from Earth. Horkheimer said a computer analysis showed it will be at least another 100 years before so many planets will be so close and so visible.
"You would know why I'm so excited if you just understand how wonderful it is to look at the same planets that hundreds of generations have seen," he said. "We are the first generation to know what the planets are about."
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Related sites:
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- Museum of Sciences and Space Transit Planetarium (Miami, Fl)
- Position of the Planets
- The Nine Planets
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