¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 May 20 [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. Moon, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Milk Way Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Mihail Minkov Explanation: It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That's because all of the [4]planets orbit the [5]Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the [6]ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane -- as [7]Earth dwellers are likely to do -- the planets all appear confined to a [8]single band. It is a coincidence, though, when [9]three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured about a month ago. [10]Featured above, Earth's Moon, [11]Mars, [12]Saturn, and [13]Jupiter were all [14]imaged together, just before sunrise, from the [15]Black Sea coast of [16]Bulgaria. A second band is [17]visible diagonally across this image -- the central band of our [18]Milky Way Galaxy. If you wake up early, you will find that these same planets [19]remain visible in the morning sky this month, too. Astrophysicists: [20]Browse 2,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2005/MoonPlanetsMW_Minkov_1620.jpg 3. https://minkovgraphicdesign.com/about/ 4. https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/ask-ethan-82-why-are-the-planets-all-in-the-same-plane-4470245c8743 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160731.html 6. http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Secliptc.htm 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170326.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecliptic 9. https://earthsky.org/todays-image/photos-moon-morning-planets-april-2020 10. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_pZqfZjC8Y/ 11. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/ 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200330.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190205.html 14. https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/5a1854f1c22e9-png__700.jpg 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria 17. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/video/jpl-20200501-whatsuf-0001-180cc.mp4 18. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 19. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury 20. http://ascl.net/ 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200519.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200520 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200521.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. http://www.mtu.edu/