For the next month, 5 planets will align in the morning sky

Starting on Wednesday, for the first time in more than a decade, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye all at the same time.

Jason Kendall of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York told The New York Times in order to get the best view from the Northern Hemisphere, people should get up 45 minutes before sunrise and look to the east. "For Mercury you will need binoculars," he said. "It will not jump out at you, but everybody should be able to see Venus and Jupiter." Kendall also shared with the Times a way for people to determine if they're looking at a star or a planet: Close one eye, stretch your arm out, then slowly move your thumb over a bright dot in the sky. If it slowly dims when your thumb passes over, you're looking at a planet. If it blinks out quickly, it's a far away star.

The five planets will be visible before sunrise from Jan. 20 to Feb. 20. "It's not super often you get to see them all at the same time in the sky," Jackie Faherty, an astronomer from the American Museum of Natural History, told the Times. "It's like seeing all of your friends at once. There they are, the other rocks or balls of gas that are running around the sun."

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