Article Posted on : - May 11, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars will form spectacular shapes in the pre-dawn sky offering a visual treat to sky gazers for a month beginning from Wednesday.

The quartet can be easily seen in the sky theatre month-long with naked eyes as they form spectacular shapes, N Sri Raghunandan Kumar, General Secretary of Planetary Society of India said.

The planetary parade of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter – bunched together – can be seen low in the east direction.

Venus and Jupiter would appear close to each other tonight as the two planets are in conjunction, Kumar said.

The two will be seen shining through the eastern twilight only half a degree apart, he said.

Also, Mercury and Venus are in conjunction with Jupiter.

Conjunction, a term used in positional astronomy means that as seen from the Earth two celestial bodies appear near one another in the sky. The event is also sometimes known as an appulse.

However, Saturn is the lone planet that can be seen in the evening sky, he added.

On May 30, the Moon as a very thin crescent will join the planet party.