See the rare 'planet parade' of 5 naked-eye planets in these photos by an astronomer

The skies finally cleared for a parade of planets.

The founder of the Virtual Telescope Project was at the ready with telescopes, cameras, and broadcasting equipment to observe the five naked-eye planets. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter were the planets that were easy to see. The equipment to view Uranus and Neptune is required.

Masi wrote that it was a beautiful Christmas gift from the sky. I captured some great images and uploaded them to the internet.

Our guides for binoculars and telescopes can help you see the solar system planets. If you want to get ready for the next planet sight, you should consider the best cameras andlenses for Astrophotography.

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The image is the first of seven.

There are five naked-eye planets in the sky. The moon shines the most.

A plane goes in between Venus and Mercury.

Mercury is barely visible in the twilight above Venus.

There are two stars in the constellation Capricorn, Nashira and Deneb Algedi.

There are moons with Jupiter and Neptune.

Mars and Aldebaran are two stars in the same astrological Zodiac.

There are three stars along with Uranus.

Masi used a panoramic fish-eye lens to catch the five planets in a single view. He put up a telescope on the roof of his house in Rome.

Mercury is fading from view in a bright twilight sky, but Masi was able to just capture it in the fish-eye lens. He said that it was easier to choose the best camera settings for each planet.

Masi took pictures of Venus and Mercury in the sky above the S-W horizon. He proceeded through the sky, taking each of the planets in turn, and then looking at the remaining two only visible in telescope or high-powered binoculars. The entire parade can be seen in the gallery above.

Masi said that he was looking forward to the next show and that he would be previewing the Quadrantid meteor shower on January 4th. If you don't attend, there will be other meteor showers in the years to come.

The co-author of Why Am I Taller is Elizabeth Howell. A book about space medicine is in the works. Follow us on social media, like us on Facebook (opens in new tab)