So many planets

Starting around January 20 and continuing until mid-February, the five classical planets are all visible by eye at the same time well before dawn. The reason I say "well before dawn" is that Mercury disappears pretty quickly once the Sun gets bright enough. And, of course, they are all impossible to see once the sun comes up. The view to the right is a screen capture of today's view in Stellarium, the free planetarium you can use on your computer to see the positions of the planets, stars and other objects in the past, the present or even the future.

So, the big news is that you can see five planets at once in the coming weeks. But I've managed to see six planets at once and I'm going to let you in on the secret to doing this. As you can see in the image (click on it to see it better), the ecliptic is marked in red.  That's the imaginary line that is the path of the Sun as it passes through the sky. But it also marks the path most of the planets take (plus or minus a little) across the sky, too. So the planets are kind of lined up. So, starting from the East where the Sun will be coming up, you can see Mercury followed by Venus (the brightest one) then Saturn then Mars (the red one) and finally Jupiter on the right. Of course, the Moon is there, too but that's not a planet. Now, if you wanted to cheat, you could say that Pluto is there, too. And it is - between Mercury and Venus at this time. But there are two problems with Pluto being the sixth visible planet - "visibility" and "planet". I know, I like to think of Pluto as a planet, too, the big shots have decided Pluto is not a planet and it is definitely not visible to the naked eye so Pluto is not the sixth planet I saw. Even most telescopes have a hard time finding Pluto. Neptune and Uranus are below the horizon and they are not visible either.

So, how do you see the sixth visible planet? Concentrate and follow my instructions. Take your sunglasses off if you have them on and stand very still. Make sure you don't look around too much or get dizzy in the dark. Now, lower your eyes gradually until you're looking down where your feet are. Now, change your gaze just to the left or right of your feet (whichever is more convenient) and look. Look hard. You may just see it - the Earth! The sixth planet you can see along with the other five. Congratulations.