GHENT, WV (WVNS) – Five different planets will align up across the night sky this week. This includes the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus.

Will Armentrout, an astronomer for the Green Bank Observatory, said the event is one that can be explained by the planets’ orbits.

“All of the planets follow the same orbital plane. That is they follow the path of the sun across the sky. Occasionally, we’ll get where many of them appear to bunch up together in the same part of the sky,” Armentrout said.

The best time to view the planets will be shortly after sunset. Venus will be the easiest to spot given how bright it is.

However, one planet might be a little tough to see.

“Uranus is also in there but it is too faint for you to see with your naked eye. If you want to see that, I would challenge you to pull out a telescope and look just north of Venus. See if you can see a little blueish, greenish dot,” Armentrout said.

Armentrout said the planets should look like a string of stars across the sky.

He had some advice on how to get the best shots.

“Go to any place where you can see a sunset very well, where you won’t have light pollution from a city towards the west. So, if you’re in a big city, you want to go a little west of that big city so you’re looking towards a dark part of the sky,” Armentrout said.

Armentrout also gave out a challenge for anyone who is interested.

“Pull out a telescope and try to see the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. There’s this giant storm that is larger than the Earth that has been raging on Jupiter since we’ve been looking at the planet. So that’s one thing, try to find the great red spot on Jupiter,” Armentrout said.