Three planets will be at their closest grouping until January 2014 which will look like they are dancing in the sky. The event has been named "Dance of the Planets".
Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will start performing tonight, May 24, and will last until January 2013. The Dance of the Planets happen every couple of years where they seem to be aligned to each other. People call it "Dance of the Planets" but scientists call it "planetary conjunction".
From May 24 to May 29, the planets will be within a circle that is less than 5 degrees wide from the human eye. Expect to see Jupiter and Venus even closer with just 1 degree away from each other on May 28 and May 29. On May 31, the three planets will form a straight line.
Jupiter will begin lowering down in June until it disappears in our eyes on the first week. Mercury will be at its most visible on June 7 before it slowly disappears while Venus will continue to shine for the rest of the year.
Americans should look at the western sky 30 to 60 minutes after sunset to witness this event as they are so close enough that they can be seen with the naked eye according to NASA. However, one can use a pair of binoculars for a better view of the three planets.
The first dance of the planets or planetary conjunction recorded was during the New Moon of December 2 to 3, 1899. The participants were the Moon, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Prior to this year's event was last December 1, 2008 with the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. This is the eight of the occurrences since 1899.
