Moon, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Milky Way

Explanation: 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 three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured about a month ago. Featured above , Earth's Moon, Mars , Saturn , and Jupiter were all imaged together , just before sunrise, from the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria . A second band is visible diagonally across this image -- the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy . If you wake up early, you will find that these same planets remain visible in the morning sky this month, too.

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