7 Planets Will Align in the Sky This Week—Here's How to See the Planetary Parade
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars will be visible to the naked eye, while Neptune and Uranus will require binoculars or a telescope to see.
Saturn will be the most difficult planet to spot as it lies close to the sun.Once the sun sets on Friday, February 28, go outside and look up—seven planets will align in the night sky, a phenomenon known as a 'planetary parade.'
According to Starwalk.space, Saturn, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars will be visible in the night sky this week. Some planets will look bright, while others will require binoculars or a telescope to be seen. While these planets, excluding Mercury, have been visible at night since January, they'll be harder to see as we inch closer to March.
Whenever multiple planets are visible, they always appear as though they are in line with one another. This line, known as the ecliptic, is an imaginary plane that contains the Earth's orbit around the sun, according to NASA. The planets that make up our solar system all tend to lie near this plane.
Related: Astronomers Are Monitoring a Newly Discovered Asteroid—That Could Hit Earth
To see the planetary parade this week, find a dark spot away from city or street lights. Four of the planets—Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars—will be visible to the naked eye.Neptune and Uranus will be too far to view without binoculars or a telescope, and Saturn will be the most difficult to see as it lies close to the sun.
According to Starwalk.space, Mars will be highest in the sky above the southern horizon, with Jupiter a little lower in the constellation Taurus. The next planet is Uranus in the constellation Aries. Venus, the brightest planet in our sky, will shine closer to the western horizon. Just above the western horizon is Neptune, and even closer to the horizon you'll find Mercury.
As February comes to a close, Saturn will head below the horizon and start appearing in the sky during the day. While this will end the seven-planet parade, those interested in seeing multiple planets in the sky at once will have another chance to do so in August when four planets will be visible at once before sunrise, NASA says.
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