Parade of planets: Multiple celestial bodies will be visible to the naked eye in February
According to NASA, planetary alignment itself is not unusual, but being able to see several planets simultaneously with the naked eye is a rarer occurrence.
The U.S. space agency says planets always appear in a line in the night sky because they orbit the sun in a relatively flat, disc-shaped plane. When viewed from Earth's perspective, the planets appear lined up.
This month, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen in the night sky with the unaided eye, while Neptune and Uranus require a telescope to view.
Philip Langill, director of the University of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, says four planets will be visible with the naked eye at the same time after sunset throughout February, although they started becoming visible in mid-January.
A visual representation of Venus shining in the night sky from www.nasaspacenews.com. Multiple planets will be visible to the naked eye in a parade of planets through much of February, according to experts. (NASASpaceNews/YouTube)
"It's not a really like super carefully timed thing. It spans many, many weeks," Langill said.
"Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn [are visible] — Uranus and Neptune, if you've got the right equipment. Mercury is whipping around like crazy, and sometimes it's in the picture, and sometimes it's not."
He adds to distinguish between planets and stars without using binoculars or a telescope, look for the brightest dots in the sky.
"When the sun goes down and the sky is starting to get dark, the planets will be the first thing to pop out," Langill said. "As the sun sets further and the sky gets darker, the stars will come out, but the planets will outshine all of the stars. And because they are big round balls of light and as opposed to a little dot, they don't twinkle."
Depending on the night and if the viewer is using a telescope, seven planets potentially can be seen, according to NASA, although Mercury and Saturn will be difficult to spot at the same time as the others.
Saturn, in particular, will be hard to spot as it sinks lower in the sky each night, while Mercury, the seventh planet joining the parade, can be seen in the post-sunset glow at the end of the month. The space agency says both planets will likely be too low in the sky and faint for most people to spot.
The planetary parade will be most pronounced shortly after sunset on Feb. 28.
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