4 planets line up like ducks in a row in gorgeous night-sky image
By Stephanie Pappas published about 4 hours ago
Astrophysicist captures the planetary parade.
The moon is leading a parade of planets across the predawn sky this week. And Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi captured the celestial show in a gorgeous image shot from his balcony in Rome.
In advance of an unusual alignment of the five visible planets in the solar system, four planets are lining up behind the moon like ducks in a row. Since April 23, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter have all been visible above the horizon in the early morning hours in the Northern Hemisphere.
"This morning I could enjoy the planetary parade involving Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn, plus the moon. It was an amazing sight, all the four planets were very easy to see," Masi told Live Science in an email.
The night-sky photo is a precursor to a bigger planetary parade this summer, as Mercury will join the line-up in mid-June.
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It has been so cloudy and rainy much of the month here in Philly (where I live, we have had over 7" of rain) that it has been difficult to see this celestial event. 
I have seen other planetary lineups in the past though...
IIRC having planet-spotted in the past with a couple telescopes that I used to have, I don't recall Venus being in the middle of that lineup that much (it's usually Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter - and sometimes Mercury). It has happened a few times in the past though and included Mercury - https://www.boredpanda.com/five-planets-align-mercury-venus-mars-jupiter-saturn/
It's the quirk of the time of year (and obviously the orbits of those planets)!
I was atop a small hill (so the trees wouldn't be in the way) at 5:30am last Saturday morning, but I had a good view of those four planets right here in western New York.
Rome. Ha! 