Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will be aligned in the sky in the wee hours of the morning from now till Feb. 20, 2016.

This is the first time in a decade this rare line-up is happening.

To see this tidy celestial occurrence, you can be anywhere in Singapore as long as you are exposed to the eastern horizon.

Alternatively, you may up sticks and head to the east of Singapore.

For example, going to East Coast Park would be the most ideal place to see this phenomenon in the night sky before dusk, as you will be facing the sunrise.

The best time to view the planets is between 4am and 5am or 5.45am and 6.15am, depending on which geek you want to follow.

And do note that without any equipment, the planets will look like stars.

But if you fancy getting your hands on equipment, you can try a telescope with an 80x magnification, or the Maksutov 90mm model.

With it, you can see Jupiter's cloud band, Saturn's rings and the phases of Venus.

If not, use your good old pair of god-given vision, where the pro-tip is: Close one eye, stretch out your arm and slowly pass your thumb over a bright dot in the sky. If the dot slowly dims out when your thumb passes over it, it is a planet. If it quickly blinks out, it is a distant star.

This is so as planets are closer to Earth than stars and planets are like disks, which emit more photons to hit your retina, while a star is a point in the sky that is much, much further away.

Another good opportunity to view the planets will be on the weekend (Feb. 6 and 7) just before Chinese New Year.

This will be when Mercury, located near both the Moon and Venus, will be the easiest to spot.

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