A majestic spacial dance: Five planets to simultaneously appear in Karachi sky tonight

KARACHI: Five planets of the solar system would simultaneously appear in the city's sky tonight, a top planetary scientist announced on Sunday, in what may be seen as a majestic spacial dance.

The five planets that can be viewed simultaneously tonight include Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, according to Prof Dr Muhammad Jawed Iqbal, the director at the Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics (ISPA) — a research facility at the University of Karachi.

"It will be possible to see the five planets together at midnight and all five can be seen without binoculars," Dr Iqbal said. "Usually, two to three planets are visible in the night sky."

The scientist noted that the scenes of the planets coming together would be visible for the next few nights.

However, it would be difficult to see the interesting activity in the sky due to Karachi's current cloudy weather.

It is interesting to note that at the same time, Mercury will be in retrograde (apparent motion of moving backwards) for the second time this year, from June 18 to July 12, 2020, according to Forbes. Furthermore, the ringed Saturn would be brightest at night on July 20, the publication added, as it would reach opposition.