Get Ready to Watch 5 Planets and Crescent Moon With Your Naked Eyes on Sunday

On July 19 before sunrise, five planets Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn; and the crescent moon would be seen in the sky at the same time. And you can watch this all with your naked eye; you would not even need a telescope. As per the astronomer Jeffrey Hunt, the heavenly bodies may be visible just an hour before the sunrise this Sunday. Hunt has also shared tips on how to see the planets in the sky.

Hunt wrote in a blog post, "Forty-five minutes before sunrise, the crescent moon and five planets are visible curved across the morning sky on July 19, 2020. Find a spot with clear horizons in the east-northeast and the southwest. A binocular may help finding the moon, Mercury, and Jupiter."

For the next few mornings, five planets would be visible but not the moon. Moreover, Jupiter may quickly leave the sky. So, on following mornings, Hunt advises skywatchers to look for 3-4 minutes prior each day. To recognise the planets, you would be able to spot Jupiter in the southwestern sky with the ringed planet Saturn above it and to the right two hours before sunrise. The Mars would blaze in the southeastern horizon.

Venus would also be visible in the eastern sky whereas Mercury would be to the right of the moon; which would be very low in the east and northeast, as per Space.com.

Hunt further added in the blog post, "You may catch them in the sky until about July 25. Until about mid-August look about two hours before sunrise to see the four bright planets -- Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter."

Remarkably, Jupiter and Saturn are headed towards their Great Conjunction on December 21, 2020. One can find them low in the southeast during the early evening hours of July and August 2020.