
7 planets will be aligned Friday. View the February 2025 planetary alignment from Texas
Skywatchers will get a cosmic treat this week with a celestial gathering of planets.
A planetary alignment, or a "planet parade," will grace our night sky just after dusk, according to SkyatNightMagazine. You can expect to see seven planets align Friday when Mercury joins Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus and Saturn.
But not all of them will be easy to see, especially with the naked eye. You'll need a good pair of high-powered binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus and Neptune.
Where and when should Texans look to the sky to see the planets align? Here's what to know.
Full moon calendar: When every full moon shines in 2025 in Texas
Regardless of how you're viewing them, the hardest planets to see will be Saturn and Neptune because they are close to the horizon and the sun, according to StarWalk. If you can see them, they'll be toward the west just after the sun sets. The time will vary based on your location. Mercury also should be visible in the western part of the sky just after sunset.
You'll have the best chance of viewing the alignment if you can find a location free of light pollution and a view of the horizon free of obstructions like trees or tall buildings.
Unable to view our graphics? Click here to see them.
Here are the times for planet visibility from Austin on Friday, Feb. 28, as listed by Time and Date:
Planet
Rise
Set
Meridian
Visibility
Mercury
Friday 7:41 a.m.
Friday 7:40 p.m.
Friday 1:40 p.m.
slightly difficult to see
Venus
Friday 7:58 a.m.
Friday 8:50 p.m.
Friday 2:24 p.m.
fairly good visibility
Mars
Friday 2:03 p.m.
Saturday 4:18 a.m.
Friday 9:10 a.m.
perfect visibility
Jupiter
Friday 11:41 a.m.
Saturday 1:34 a.m.
Friday 6:38 p.m.
fairly good visibility
Saturn
Friday 7:35 a.m.
Friday 7:13 p.m.
Friday 1:24 p.m.
very difficult to see
Uranus
Friday 10:33 a.m.
Saturday 12:06 a.m.
Friday 5:20 p.m.
difficult to see
Neptune
Friday 7:55 a.m.
Friday 7:51 p.m.
Friday 1:53 p.m.
extremely difficult to see
It's not especially remarkable for a few planets to line up in the sky, but when we see four or five brilliant planets at once, it's less common, according to NASA.
The planets orbit the sun continuously in the solar system, so at times, they slowly catch up to one another. Because they travel along the same path, or ecliptic, as they pass Earth, it appears they are aligned. The alignment formation, however, is short-lived because planets move at different speeds.
With eight planets in our solar system, which includes Earth, they all have some very interesting traits. Here's a quick look at the planets aligning this month:
According to Starwalk, skywatchers can look forward to more planetary alignments in 2025-2026:
April 17 (four planets): Neptune, Mercury, Saturn and Venus
Aug. 10 (six planets): Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn
Feb. 28, 2026 (six planets): Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter
Here are some of the other celestial phenomena happening this year, according to Smithsonian Magazine:
March 14: A total lunar eclipse will cast a deep red color over the full moon as it passes through Earth's shadow. Totality will last for just over one hour. March's full moon will also be a micromoon, appearing smaller and dimmer than usual as it reaches the point in its orbit farthest from Earth.
March 29: In a partial solar eclipse, the moon will partly block the Sun. Canada will get some of the best views, with up to 93% coverage of the Sun.
April 21-22: The annual Lyrid meteor shower will peak, offering views of 10 to 15 meteors per hour.
Aug. 12-13: Another annual phenomenon, the Perseid meteor shower will peak. Though it typically offers views of 100 meteors or more per hour, 2025's shower occurs days after the full moon and will likely affect visibility of the fainter meteors.
Sept. 21: Saturn will reach opposition, making its viewing the biggest and brightest of the year. The ringed planet will align with Earth and the Sun, and the side of Saturn facing Earth will be completely illuminated by the Sun.
Oct. 8: Though the annual Draconid meteor shower tends to be a relatively smaller one, with a maximum of 10 meteors per hour, experts predict 2025 could see heightened activity with a meteor outburst.
Oct. 22: The annual Orionid meteor shower has a longer duration of nearly two months. Its peak will see 10 to 20 meteors per hour, with the coinciding new moon producing dark skies and optimal viewing conditions.
Nov. 5: The closest supermoon of the year will appear in the sky, only 221,965 miles from Earth.
— USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: February 2025 planetary alignment: How to view from Texas

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It's been there ever since: The back of the photo reads, "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth, who landed on the Moon on the twentieth of April 1972." This is how big everyone's favorite telescope, the Hubble Telescope, is: KRGEAC The Hubble Space Telescope at the Lockheed assembly plant 8913987 This picture, taken in 1946, is one of the first images of Earth ever taken from space: It was captured from a 35-millimeter camera attached to a V-2 rocket. And this is the first picture of Earth from the moon, taken in 1966 by Lunar Orbiter 1: The Mars rovers are way, way bigger than you thought they were: This is the Perseverance rover. It's not a little RC car! This is what a piece of the moon and a piece of Mars looks like: Read and see more here. 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This is the Willamette meteorite, the largest meteorite that's ever been found in the United States: It is the sixth largest in the world and weighs 15.5 tons. And this is the Hoba meteorite, the largest meteorite on Earth: The largest that we know of, that is. It's located in Namibia. Way out on the edge of the Solar System is this big ol' hunk of rock called Ultima Thule, Arrokoth, or (486958) 2014 MU69 — the farthest thing from Earth humanity has ever "explored up close": Reminds me of two peanuts I ate earlier today. Those were some good peanuts. Buzz Aldrin took humanity's first "space selfie" while on a spacewalk in 1966: Never heard of a "space selfie"? Well, it's got its own Wikipedia page. This is what the moon looks like in the Northern Hemisphere... ...and this is what the moon looks like in the Southern Hemisphere. It's upside down: Well, I guess that just depends on the moon you lived your life with. This is what Ireland looks like from space: I think I see Bono. And finally, this is the statement President Jimmy Carter wrote and put aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft, intended for any aliens the probe might encounter: It reads: "This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization."We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some — perhaps many — may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:"This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe." This is Eugene Cernan, who is, as of 2023, the last man to ever walk on the moon: He did it way back in 1972. It's been that long, folks! Finally, let's end by looking at the TRUE color of every planet in our solar system. This is what color Mercury really is: And this is what Venus looks like to the naked eye: Here's where you are, Earth, in true color: No surprise here. This is what Mars looks like in real color: And this is what Jupiter looks like without any filters: Here's Saturn in all its true-color glory: And this is Uranus in real color: Here's Neptune in true color: And, finally, here's our little dwarf planet warrior, Pluto, in real color: