HE Five brightest planets visible from Earth have lined up to form a dramatic celestial array visible to the naked eye. Such a spectacle will be visible again only in 2040.

Through the next four weeks from April 20, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will align in a straight line with the Earth and "Over the weeks, the alignment will assume different shapes as the five planets move in their orbits around the Sun. Since the planets orbits around the Sun. Since the planets ferent distances from the Sun, they line up like this every 20 years or so, but are not always visible.

However, there is no astronomical significance to the clustering, it is just a "Pretty coincidence", say as tronomers.

"They will appear like a small bright patch in the evening sky. Looking at them through a pair of ordinary binoculars, one would be able to make out even the differences in color. Venus is whitish, Mars pinkish and Saturn yellowish," said another official.

In fact, by using a small telescope, one may even be able to see the rings around Saturn.

The best time to see the cluster would be half an hour after sunset facing west, and Jupiter will be higher in the sky and to its left. The other three planets will appear between them.

A similar conjunction of the same five planets, and the moon, had occurred two years ago.

"In May 2000 too, these five plan, they were washed out by its glare," an official said.

Incidentally, such conjunctions are believed to be harbingers of devastation-floods, fires and other disasters.