A Parade of Planets Is Marching Through the Night Sky
Astute skywatchers may have already seen the striking line of planets across the night sky in January. This week Mercury joins the queue. Now every other world in our solar system will be visible among the stars at the same time — if you know where to look.
According to Gerard van Belle, director of science at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, an alignment of seven planets is neither mystical nor particularly rare.
'On the scale of supermoon to death asteroid, this is more a supermoon sort of thing,' Dr. van Belle said. Still, the planetary parade, as the event is colloquially named, 'makes for a very nice excuse to go outside at night, maybe with a glass of wine, and enjoy the night sky.'
A Parade of Planets
Beginning in late February, seven planets will align in the night sky. But Uranus and Neptune may require a telescope to see.
Mars
SKY AT
SUNSET
ORION
Jupiter
Uranus
Plane of
Earth's orbit
Venus
Neptune
Mercury
Saturn
HORIZON LOOKING
WEST
Saturn
Line of sight to
Neptune
SOLAR
SYSTEM
Line of sight to
Uranus
Jupiter
Viewed from above the solar system, the seven planets will fall within Earth's line of sight at sunset, and will not be obscured by the sun.
Mercury
Sun
Mars
Venus
Earth
SKY AT
SUNSET
Mars
ORION
Jupiter
Uranus
Plane of
Earth's orbit
Venus
Neptune
Mercury
Saturn
HORIZON LOOKING
WEST
Viewed from above the solar system, the seven planets will fall within Earth's line of sight at sunset, and will not be obscured by the sun.
Saturn
Line of sight to
Neptune
SOLAR
SYSTEM
Line of sight to
Uranus
Jupiter
Mercury
Sun
Venus
Earth
Mars
By Jonathan Corum | Source: NASA
Why are the planets aligned?
Whenever planets are visible in the night sky, they always appear roughly along the same line. This path, known as the ecliptic, is the same one that the sun travels along during the day.
This happens because the planets orbit around the sun in the same plane. Dr. van Belle likened the configuration to a vinyl record: The sun is in the center, and the grooves are the orbits of the planets around it.
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