Five planets line up with Moon in night sky

Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Mars, and the Moon aligned in an arc across the evening sky on Monday, March 27 with some visible to the naked eye. This is often called 'a planetary parade' and was visible after sunset in the west.

A good view of the horizon and clear skies offered the best chance of spotting the alignment. The best shot at spotting the planets on Monday was away from any bright city lights, somewhere with a clear, unobstructed view.

Also, early in the evening because Mercury and Jupiter quickly disappeared over the horizon. Some of the best views were from northern parts of Scotland and its islands because of clear skies.

Prof Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, watched the spectacle from Edinburgh's Portobello beach. "Planet spotting on a crystal clear night along with so many other planetary parade enthusiasts was an absolute delight!" she told BBC.

See her post below:

To the naked eye, even from a bright city, Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, and Mars could be easily visible," astronomer Jake Foster from Royal Observatory Greenwich said. He added that Uranus was visible with a medium-sized telescope, while to see Mercury will be more challenging.

Astronomer Jake Foster from Royal Observatory Greenwich said such alignments were very particular to our perspective from Earth. "The planets aren't aligned right now, they are all spread out across the Solar System but just from our perspective, every once in a while they get close enough to each other in the sky that we're able to see quite a few at once," he said.