Planets Party Near Moon

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will cluster near the crescent moon in the two hours after sundown on Thursday, treating Earthlings to a sublime heavenly show that should be visible even in the heart of big cities.

To see it, look for the thin sliver of the crescent moon low on the western skyline at about 8 p.m., from anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

Beside the moon you will see the three planets, in a triangle pattern. By far the brightest will be Jupiter, which will appear as a bright silvery star. Dimmer but still very conspicuous will be the yellowish-white Saturn. Mars, the third planet, will be the dimmest.

Even though it is often called the Red Planet, Mars actually looks yellowish-orange or pumpkin colored. When Mars is close to the Earth, like it will be in 2001, it rivals the brightest star in the sky. But because is quite far away from the Earth right now, it’s color will barely be noticeable, and it will appear as about the 20th brightest star in the sky. Even so, even people in the heart of a big city should be able to make it out – although they may need to squint a little.

Adding to the beauty of the sky show, the ghostly outline of the full moon may be visible behind the emerging crescent moon. This faint glow is caused by sunlight reflecting off the earth onto the moon.

Joe Rao, a lecturer at New York 's Hayden Planetarium, says, ”If you look at the moon in this phase with binoculars, it does not look flat -- it has this 3-D effect. You will see three jewels of different color or hue hanging next to that eerie illuminated ball.”

After Thursday, the moon will part ways from the three planets.

The planets will move toward each other over the next week, reaching their closet point on April 14. Mars will pass closest to Jupiter on April 16, and then start drifting away.

Jupiter and Saturn disappear from the night sky after April 16, rendered invisible by the brightness of the sun.

An even grander alignment of heavenly bodies occurs on May 5, but it will be invisible from Earth because of the sun. The Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn come together in a narrow area of the sky, less than 25 degrees across.

Is this the dawning of the Age Of Aquarius, or a harbinger of doom as predicted by students of Nostradamus?

Fear not. As NASA's Dr. Tony Phillips points out, dire predictions of severe earthquakes, devastating floods, and mass destruction preceded a similar alignment of planets that occurred on Feb. 4, 1962. One mistaken premise for these predictions is that the gravitational pull of the planets will cause massive tides. In fact, because the planets are so far away from the earth, they can move the tides no more than a hundredth of an inch, even when in perfect alignment.

The planets visible with the nked eye gather as closely as on May 5 once every 57 years on average.

The next time the five naked-eye planets will group together is on Sept. 8, 2040, at 7:30 p.m.