CUE THE ZARATHUSTRA: All eight planets ‘captured in photo for first time’ – and they will be visible again this week.

A photographer is thought to have become the first person to capture all seven planets and Earth in one picture.

The rare image was made possible because a “great planetary parade” is taking place this week for the first time since 1982 – when cameras were not advanced enough to capture them all.

The panorama was taken from Somerset’s Mendip Hills on Saturday by Josh Dury, 27, an award-winning astronomical photographer dubbed the “Starman”.

Mr Dury said: “It is made of nine images, revealing Saturn, Mercury and Neptune.

“They were very tricky to spot. I used multiple image analysis and astronomy apps to confirm their location.

“As this was taken with a wide-angle lens, the nine images stitched to a panorama and a HDR blend of one of the frames to reveal Saturn, Neptune and Mercury. These three planets are not easy to see at all.”

Why do the planets align and when will they next be visible?

Currently, specialised astronomical equipment is needed to see all the planets, but on Friday they will all become visible in the night sky.

One of the leitmotifs in Stanley Kubrick’s epochal 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey was the alignment of the planets when something momentous was about to happen:

Do we have any probes heading towards Europa? We might want to advise them to attempt no landing there this week.

UPDATE: An Insta-reader notes:

Readers of Instapundit are going to be disappointed when they try to look at Uranus and Neptune. The reporter for The Telegraph overstated the phenomenon. Yes, these planets are in the sky, however, even on Friday they will be so faint that an expertly pointed telescope will be needed to see them.

Still though, I advise caution during your morning commute to Europa.