Planets Ahoy

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 2008-09-30 · NASA (public domain)

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Planets Ahoy — APOD for 2008-09-30

Can you spot the Solar System's four rocky planets ? In the above image taken on September 20, all of them were visible in a single glance, but some of them may be different than you think. Pictured above , the brightest and highest object in the sky is the planet Venus . The object lowest in the sky is the planet Mars , while the object furthest to the left is the planet Mercury . The last remaining point of light is . . . the bright star Spica , which leaves the question -- where is the fourth rocky planet? That would be Earth , specifically part of Australia , visible across the entire bottom of the image.

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2008-09-30 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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