Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the night sky to the naked eye this month. File picture. Photo: NASA/W. Stenzel
Six planets are lining up across the night sky this month in a so-called "parade of planets".
Four of the planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye.
Astronomer and planet discoverer Ian Griffin said it was a great time to do some sky watching if you were interested in planets.
"Because of the way the Earth goes around the Sun and different plants go around the Sun for a short period of time over the next few weeks, you've got a whole bunch of naked eye planets on display," he said.
"Starting in the west this evening if you go out about an hour after sunset you'll see Venus blazing away above the horizon and then just above Venus you can see Saturn, a little bit fainter and whitish, and then in the northern sky you've got Jupiter which is incredibly bright at the moment and then rising in the north-east you've got fiery red Mars which is at its closest to us over the next few weeks."
To top it all off, towards the end of the week there should be a comet that can be seen with the naked eye in the south-west, he said.
The view of the comet was likely to be even better next week, he said.
"Seeing a naked eye comet is quite a rare thing, there's been a few over the last few years but astronomers have got really high hopes for this one.
"Hopefully towards the end of the week, early next week, in the south-western sky about an hour after sunset you'll see this kind of white streak of light in the sky and that's the comet tail and this comet is on its first visit to our part of the solar system and the next time it comes round will be about half a million years time - so if you want to see this comet now is a really good time to do it."
It was a great time to go out and do some astronomy with so much on view, he said.
Provided the sky was clear all of the planets should be on display from throughout New Zealand, he said.
"All you need is a Mark 1 eyeball, a deck chair and a really good view of the horizon."
Although the planets would be able to be seen with the naked eye, binoculars would allow you to see greater detail, he said.
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