Five Planets and the Moon over Australia

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day, a grand planetary alignment of the moon and 5 planets in the evening sky. It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That’s because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane — as Earth dwellers are likely to do — the planets all appear confined to a single band. It is a coincidence, though, when several of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence is captured here in August 2016, after sunset from Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. A second band is visible across the top of this tall image — the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Move the slider on the image to find the planets.