Watch: Incredible Moment When 5 Planets Lined Up In Rare Formation For First Time In 18 Years

A video of the incredible moment where five major planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - lined up in a rare formation was captured and the video is now viral on social media.

New Delhi: Five major planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — in our solar system lined up for the first time in 18 years in a rare formation which was visible to the naked eye. In a clear sky, the planets was seen shining before dawn last week. The conjunction was brightest on Friday but remained visible until Monday from most parts of the world.

A video of the incredible moment was captured on camera by Astronomer Dr Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project. “While imaging astronomical objects so bright is generally easy, in the case of such a parade there are some critical things to be considered: first, the planets while aligned along the ecliptic, the projection in the sky of the Earth’s orbit could cover many degrees in the sky (more than 100, in this case); furthermore, Mercury can be difficult to capture, being low above the horizon and showing in the brightest area of the sky at twilight,” Dr Gianluca Masi said, as per Virtual Telescope website.

The last time this conjunction happened was 2004 and it won’t be seen again until 2040. The planets appear “like a string of pearls spread out from close to the horizon”, explains space scientist and chief stargazer at the Society for Popular Astronomy Prof Lucie Green. It is also a special event because the planets appear in the order they are positioned from the sun.