NASA says 7 planets will align tonight. When's the last time this happened?

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28-02-2025

It's unlikely you'll be able to walk outside and see a line of planets, but according to NASA, a seven-planet parade happening tonight could be visible in some form in parts of the U.S.
The upcoming cosmic event also follows a series of planets, like Mars and Jupiter, visible in various geographic regions nationwide in January. If you can't wait for next month's total lunar eclipse, tonight's event might hold you over.
Here's what we know about Friday's planetary alignment.
Parade of planets 2025: A seven-planet alignment happens in late-February, but it could be tricky to see it
The planets in our solar system orbit the sun essentially along the same line across the sky in a plane called the ecliptic.
For that reason, planets in our Earthly sky always appear somewhere along a flat, disc-shaped plane, according to EarthSky, a website dedicated to cosmic news.
The ecliptic is also the reason that we on Earth sometimes observe planets appearing to approach closely to each other in the sky "while they careen around the cosmic racetrack," according to NASA.
"We see the racetrack of the planets from the perspective of one of the racers ourselves," Preston Dyches, who hosts NASA's "What's Up," a monthly video series that describes what's happening in the night sky, wrote for NASA. "When viewed edge-on, this disc appears as a line."
Whenever planets become visible, these events are often referred to as planetary alignments.
While alignments themselves aren't special, it is rare to have an opportunity to observe multiple planets simultaneously without the need for instruments like ground telescopes. Such an event is also commonly known as a "planet parade," though NASA noted that the moniker is not a technical astronomical term.
The colloquial term refers to how the planets form a straight line and look like they're marching across the night sky.
The phenomenon took place last June and then most recently again in January, when four bright planets and two faint planets were visible all month in the night sky.
Four planets have remained widely visible in the night sky through much of February:
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus and Neptune are also still around, but they won't be appearing as brightly and will require a telescope to see, according to NASA.
According to Star Walk, the next "planet parade"
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are frequently seen in the night sky. But because Venus and Mercury orbit closer to the sun than Earth, with smaller, faster orbits, it's more rare for them to make an appearance, according to NASA.
Venus is visible for only a few months at a time when it reaches its greatest separation from the sun. Mercury, which takes 88 days to orbit the sun, is visible for only a few weeks, or even days, at a time.
Mercury is expected to join the other planets in being visible to the unaided eye by Friday, Feb. 28.
Planet parades must be observed during twilight between dawn and sunset so a glowing sky does not obscure the view. So, find a dark place free of light pollution with a view of the western horizon.
Mercury and Saturn will be low in the sky, basking in the post-sunset glow, which will make both planets too faint for most observers to spot.
The planet parade that began in January will come to an end by mid-to-late February, as Saturn sinks increasingly lower in the sky each night after sunset, according to NASA.
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USA TODAY reporter Janet Loehrke contributed.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Planet alignment tonight could be last in many years, experts say