Sky gazers across the U.S. will have a chance to see an extraordinary celestial event on Friday as all of the planets in our solar system appear in the evening sky. This phenomenon, known as a “planet parade,” will feature Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all visible at the same time along a line or arc in the sky, NASA says. Though “planet parade” is not an official astronomical term, it typically refers to when four or more planets are seen together in the sky—a rare alignment that won’t happen again for decades.
Dr. Jackie Faherty, curator in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History says, “The misnomer on it is that it’s an alignment…if you took your finger and you pointed it up and towards one of the planets, all of the planets would be in a line along that finger. And that’s just not the case.”
Instead, Faherty likens the planets’ motion to cars on a racetrack. “The Earth is on a side of the racetrack as it’s going around the Sun that the other planets…are also on that side. So right now, if you go out, you have to do this right at sunset or else you’re not going to catch the planets as they’re setting. They’re always there, but they are currently on the side of the race track that we’re on.”
Why This Planetary Parade Is Special
While planetary parades are not unheard of, Faherty explains, “It happened a year and a half ago…it’s just related to the orbital periods, the amount of time it takes any one of the planets to make its way around the Sun.” Mercury orbits in roughly 88 days, Venus in just over 200, Earth in 365, and Mars takes about twice that. Outer planets take even longer, which makes this simultaneous appearance a rare visual treat.
“This planetary parade just means that we are catching them on that planetary disk that they’re going around on where it’s dark at night where we can see a bunch of them,” Dr. Faherty said.
How to Spot the Planets Visible Tonight
Not all planets are visible to the naked eye, Faherty notes, and timing is key. “Your eye can see to a magnitude of six. Uranus is like at the hairy edge of that…Neptune is like 7.8 on the number scale, so no human can see Neptune by eye. Mercury…should be bright, but the problem is Mercury and Venus are very close to the Sun…you’re fighting the sunset if you’re trying to see them.”
For casual skywatchers, she recommends starting with the brightest planets: “Venus should pop out at you because Venus is very bright…The easiest one you’re going to have to find is going to be Jupiter. Jupiter is super bright right now and it’s high…it doesn’t set until like 2:00 in the morning. Mercury and Venus and then Saturn…If you want to find Uranus and Neptune, I suggest binoculars or a telescope because those two are very, very faint.”
A Chance to Connect With the Cosmos
Faherty emphasizes that the planetary parade is as much about engagement as discovery. “It’s 100% an engagement…watching the planets as they move across the sky was state-of-the-art astrophysics several hundred years ago. We’ve solved all of the planetary motion questions that exist…So right now it’s both a way to engage the public in looking up and a reminder of how far we’ve come and how much we understand about the universe.”
For those hoping to catch the planetary parade in the evening sky, patience and practice are key. “You need to go outside, try it tonight, practice every night…Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then the planets start to get a little bit further, but you can still try Sunday, Monday,” Faherty said.
Image: A child looks through a telescope during a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme, File)