A rare celestial event is captivating stargazers as six planets align in a striking display, says Professor Chandana Jayaratne, Director of the Astronomy and Space Sciences Unit at the University of Colombo’s Department of Physics.
The alignment features Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which can be observed along the same general path in the night sky.
According to Professor Jayaratne, this extraordinary phenomenon is visible to the naked eye for approximately 90 minutes after sunset on clear evenings. “This is a unique opportunity for enthusiasts to witness a rare planetary parade without specialized equipment,” he added.
During this astronomical alignment, commonly known as a planetary parade, all the planets meet up on the same side of the Sun forming an expansive arc above the Earth. Interestingly, most of these are visible to the naked eye if the night sky is clear.
When to watch the planet parade?
Beginning on January 21 and reaching its peak around January 29, this breathtaking phenomenon will continue to be visible until mid-February. Although the six planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - can be best viewed on January 25, the alignment is taking over the sky for two months, with Mercury joining the parade of planets by the end of February; which eventually will make a planet parade of seven planets.
Mercury will reach its peak visibility from February 28 to March 12, completing the cosmic display of seven planets. While the planets won’t be perfectly aligned, their placement will follow the orbital plane of our solar system.
How to watch the planet parade?
To witness a planet parade, you can primarily use your naked eyes to see the brighter planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; however, for a better view of fainter planets like Uranus and Neptune, you’ll need binoculars or a telescope. Choose a place darker and away from the city lights for a better view. This celestial event, visible to the naked eye, offers a rare chance for everyone to marvel at the wonders of our solar system! And you shouldn’t miss it.
What is the best time to watch?
The best time to catch the event is about 45-90 minutes after sunset. The four planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - will be visible to the naked eye just after the sun goes down, but Uranus and Neptune will require a telescope.
What’s so special about the planet parade?
What makes this event noteworthy? The fact that six planets will be visible, four of them with the naked eye. However, such events are not just a spectacle for stargazers – they can also have a real impact on our Solar System and offer the potential to gain new insights into our place within it.
The eight major planets of our Solar System orbit the Sun in the same flat plane, and all at different speeds. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, completes an orbit – a year for the planet – in 88 days. Earth’s year, of course, is 365 days, while at the upper end, Neptune takes a whopping 60,190 days, or about 165 Earth years, to complete a single revolution of our star.
The different speeds of the planets mean that, on occasion, several of them can be roughly lined up on the same side of the Sun.
From Earth, if the orbits line up just right, we can see multiple planets in our night sky at the same time. In rare events, all the planets will line up such that they all appear in our night sky together along the ecliptic, the path traced by the Sun.
On the other hand, while, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, Uranus and Neptune require binoculars or a telescope to spot.
In January and February, you can witness the rare event of the planet parade taking place.
The planets are not exactly lined up, so they will appear in an arc across the sky due to their orbital plane in the Solar System. During clear nights in January and February, all of the planets except Mercury will be visible. On 28 February, all seven planets will be visible, a great spectacle for observers on the ground.
According to Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and astronomer at Fifth Star Labs in the UK, “There is something special about looking at the planets with your own eyes. Yes, you can go on Google and get a more spectacular view of all these planets. But when you’re looking at these objects, these are photons that have travelled millions or billions of miles through space to hit your retinas.”
--With agencies inputs
