What Highland Park Observatory Manager Trey Goodman called a “cheap date” is currently taking place among the heavens.
The five closest planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, which all are visible by the naked eye — are currently visible to any casual stargazer or aspiring cosmic Casanova in a single sitting.
The NASA Web site said the alignment started around March 22, and people can continue to see the planets every night until early April.
This rare occurrence, which also includes a sliver of the Moon, will not take place at this time of evening again until April 2036, Goodman said.
“Even though Baton Rouge is bad about light pollution, [the planets] should be bright enough to be visible anywhere,” Goodman said.
Geoff Clayton, associate professor of physics and astronomy, said to see the planets, a person needs a good view of the western horizon. The planets will be rising in a line from the horizon until just past overhead.
Space.com said the planets will be simultaneously visible just after sunset for about 45 to 90 minutes. After that, Mercury will fall below the horizon, and the others will follow as the night progresses.
Though the planets can be seen by the naked eye, Goodman said a pair of standard binoculars can help a person see four of Jupiter’s moons and perhaps Saturn’s rings.
The reason the Moon and planets gather like this and appear to follow the same path across the night sky is that they all occupy orbital planes around the Sun similar to Earth’s orbital plane, the NASA Web site said. The plane Earth moves in is called the ecliptic plane.
Goodman said all five planets can be seen again in December and January, but the quality won’t be as high and they only will be visible early in the morning.
On Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., the Highland Observatory, located at 13800 Highland Rd., will hold a presentation about the five planets followed by observing the planets individually through several telescopes, including the 20″ Ritchey-Cretien telescope that occupies almost the entire building. The event is free of charge.
The program on Saturday night will stay open until 2 a.m. Sunday to broadcast the three shadows of the Galelean moons that appear on the face of Jupiter. According to Highland Observatory data, this will not occur again until the year 2013.
Clayton said that another astronomical feature will occur on June 8 when Venus will pass in front of the sun like an eclipse, but it will not block out the sun like a lunar eclipse. Clayton said the last time this has happened was in 1882.