How one can See the February 2025 ‘Parade of Planets’

• Seven planets can be visibly within the evening sky on Feb. 28.
• Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars can be seen with the bare eye.
• Neptune and Uranus are each out, too, however you’ll want a telescope to identify them. Saturn can be within the sky shortly after sundown.

A planetary parade that’s been dazzling astronomers and newbie stargazers alike since January is nearing its epic last show—however you’ll have to be in the best place on the proper time to catch it in all its glory. 

On Feb. 28, seven planets—Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn—will all grace the early night sky. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars can be simple to identify with the bare eye, whereas Uranus and Neptune would require binoculars or a small telescope.

The trickiest member of this entourage is Saturn, which can be seen just for a brief window proper after sundown, relying in your location and sky circumstances. That mentioned, this celestial spectacle is a worldwide occasion, so chances are high good that circumstances can be excellent someplace for this uncommon planetary gathering to shine. 

What’s a “Parade of Planets”? 

Along with “planet parade,” this occasion can be described as a “planetary alignment.” However “parade” is the extra applicable time period as a result of the planets are by no means completely aligned on one facet of the solar. We see them this manner from Earth as a result of all of them orbit the solar in almost the identical flat “disk” of area known as the ecliptic airplane. This makes the planets seem to observe the identical path throughout the sky (the ecliptic), and when a number of cluster up collectively we get a “planetary alignment.”

“Bodily, there’s no precise alignment occurring,” Kate Pattle, an astrophysicist at College Faculty London, informed CNN throughout a planet parade in June 2024. “It’s simply that many of the planets are roughly on the identical facet of the solar in the meanwhile. If the planets truly aligned with one another in area, that will be known as a syzygy, and that’s a a lot, a lot rarer occasion.”

How one can catch February’s planet parade

Seeing all seven planets collectively on the night of Feb. 28 goes to take some precision timing and superb circumstances. Even when the climate is respectable (which for February is at all times a wildcard), you’ll want an unobstructed view (no mountains, timber, buildings, and many others.) of the western horizon to catch all seven on the similar time. It’s because Saturn, simply seen on darkish nights, can be setting very shut after sundown and can seem dim within the night twilight. There’ll probably solely be a window of 20 to half-hour that you just’ll have the ability to spot this departing member of the parade of planets earlier than it dips beneath the horizon. 

On the plus facet, a New Moon will coincide with this planetary parade, giving option to exceptionally darkish skies for viewing dim objects like Uranus and Neptune. Even if you happen to don’t have entry to binoculars or a telescope, it is best to nonetheless have the ability to simply spot Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. 

Whereas planetary parades aren’t significantly uncommon, having this many planets collectively in the identical common part of the sky is particular. In truth, our subsequent greatest shot can be in September 2040, when 5 naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) will align with a crescent moon.

So seize your binoculars, discover a clear horizon, and don’t miss your likelihood to witness this planetary spectacle!