On Saturday, February 28, astronomers and space enthusiasts will be able to observe a unique planetary alignment, during which Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will appear close to each other in the night sky. This phenomenon, known as a planetary parade, occurs due to the specific arrangement of celestial bodies in their orbits relative to Earth, creating a striking visual effect of a single line. This is reported by UNN.
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To see the parade, NASA experts recommend looking at the western part of the sky approximately 30 minutes after local sunset. Four planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter – will be bright enough to observe without special equipment, although Mercury may be difficult to spot due to its low position above the horizon.
As for the distant ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, binoculars or a telescope will be needed to detect them, as they are located in remote regions of the Solar System.
Rarity of the phenomenon and the nature of planetary alignments
Although groups of three or four planets regularly approach each other, a parade involving six or seven objects is considered a rare event. Astronomers emphasize that such an alignment is a purely visual phenomenon, as in reality the planets are separated by billions of kilometers of space and only appear to be located in the same ecliptic plane from the perspective of an Earth observer.
Such large-scale parades do not happen often – the previous similar alignment of seven planets was observed exactly a year ago, on February 27, 2025, and the next full parade is expected only in 2040.