Stargazers have the chance to spot several of the planets we share the solar system with this weekend with the naked eye.
Early risers with a good view of the horizon will get the best chance of spotting the alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn at dawn on Saturday.
While Jupiter and Saturn will be easy to spot, Neptune and Uranus may require binoculars and Mercury will only be visible for a short space of time.
Don Pollacco, a professor at the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics, said: “While Jupiter and Saturn will be easy to spot by eye, Mercury will be more challenging as its proximity to the sun means that it is only just above the horizon and visible about an hour before sunrise.
“Neptune and Uranus need binoculars to be sure of seeing them – although some keen-sighted people can see Uranus unaided.
“Jupiter and Saturn will be bright objects that have a yellowy colour, Mercury often looks pink, and Uranus and Neptune pale white-green.”
Alignments occur when the planets in the solar system are all roughly positioned in the same direction when viewed from Earth.
Saturn will be the first to rise, followed by Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus and Mercury
Prof Pollacco said: “Given that we understand the orbits of the planets, we can predict when these ‘alignments’ will occur.
“While the planets may look relatively close together in the sky they are of course separated by many millions of miles.”
The next five-planet alignment will take place on April 20 2024, which will be a morning parade with Venus, Mercury, Neptune, Mars, and Saturn.
It comes as a family got the shock of their lives when they returned to their house to find a meteorite had smashed through the roof.
They called the non-emergency line and struggled to explain what had happened.
The mysterious object had smashed through the roof of their New Jersey home, through the ceiling and then ricocheted off the hardwood floor before coming to a stop.
Homeowner Suzy Kop said that at first she thought someone had thrown something before seeing the damage and the strange object.
A police spokesperson said: "The object, which is described as approximately 4' x 6' is oblong in shape and appears metallic. It penetrated the roof, the ceiling and then impacted the hardwood floor before coming to a rest."
