How to see 7 planets align in "great planetary parade" Friday
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Look to the sky Friday night for the rare chance to see seven planets lined up.
The big picture: Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars will appear together in a "planetary alignment" or "parade of planets" shortly after sunset Friday, according to the astronomy website and app Star Walk.
- Feb. 28 is considered the best day to see the alignment worldwide.
What is a planetary parade?
Zoom in: A planetary alignment is when planets appear close together.
- There are different kinds of planetary alignments, according to Star Walk.
- Mini alignments include three planets, small alignments four planets and large alignments have five or six planets, according to Star Walk.
- A great or full planetary alignment, which is extremely rare, includes all planets.
What time will the planets align tonight?
To see the seven-planet alignment, find a place with a dark sky without light pollution and with a clear view of the horizon.
- Sunset times vary and can be calculated using the Sun calculator at Timeanddate.com.
- The best time to starting to look for the planets is about half an hour after sunset, experts advise.
How to see the planetary alignment
What we're watching: Four planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter — will be visible to the naked eye.
- Start looking below the horizon after sunset, Star Walk says.
- To see Uranus and Neptune you'll need to use a telescope after it gets dark, Preston Dyches, a public engagement specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told NPR.
- NASA says Mercury and Saturn "will be too low and faint for most observers to spot."
Zoom out: What makes this celestial event special is that the planets will be in roughly the same region of the sky during the dark sky phase of a new Moon, Axios' Christine Clarridge reports.
- This offers a better chance for visibility.
- Weather and cloud conditions can impact the ability to see the planets.
Between the lines: There will be more chances to see multiple planets in March, per EarthSky.
Total lunar eclipse coming in March
What's next: A total lunar eclipse — when the Moon will pass into Earth's shadow and appear to turn red — is coming.
- NASA says it'll happen on the night of March 13 or early in the morning on March 14, depending on time zone.
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