2025 begins with a blow for skygazers, with a planet parade now visible in the night sky. A planet parade is when many of the planets of our solar system are visible in the night sky at the same time. There will be six planets visible this time, notably Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
The six planets are visible now and will remain so at the end of February. Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible to the naked eye. You will need a high power visualization device like a telescope to locate Neptune and Uranus.
The best time to see the planets from the northern hemisphere will be just after sunset around 8:30 p.m. local time. You might always be able to catch Venus, Saturn and Neptune on the horizon after that, but the three planets will be under the horizon by 11:30 p.m. to midnight depending on your location. After that, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will remain visible for a few more hours, Mars finally taking place just before sunrise.
Contrary to previous paradesThis should last a good time, because the planets are in advantageous places in the sky. You should be able to see the six planets every night until the last week about February.
After that, a parade of seven planets will start because Mercury will briefly join the others in the sky for a few days, transforming this into a planetary parade of the seven planets of our solar system other than the earth. It will be difficult to see them all since Saturn, Mercury and Neptune will be quite close to the sun at sunset, but they will be there.
As Mars starts, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune will have derived too close to the sun to be easily visible with Venus not far behind, leaving Jupiter, Mars and Uranus to populate the night sky until the beginning of the next parade.
March, Jupiter and Uranus will be in the southeast sky while Neptune, Venus and Saturn will occupy the southwest sky around 9:30 p.m. local time.
Will my region see the planet’s parade?
Most, if not all, locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico should be able to see the planetary parade this time thanks to its long length and its limited planetary movement. We checked the observatories in California, Texas, Ohio and New York in the United States, with Calgary in Canada and Mexico, Mexico. We were able to find the six planets at each location, so whatever you go, to the north, the east, the west or the south, you can see it.
In general, the best time to see the planet’s parade will be before February 21.
Find out more: The complete moons explained, from blue moons to supermoons through the lunar phases
You will not have to wait a long time for the six planets to be in the sky. They will be there as soon as the sun goes down. Once it is dark, you will only have a few hours to see them before Venus, Saturn and Neptune plunge below the evening horizon. This applies whatever the place, so no matter where you are, everything is about at the same time.
During the last days of February, Mercury will appear and the parade will increase to seven planets. It will be better seen at sunset and will be more difficult to see while the sun is always on the horizon.
Will I need special equipment to see the parade?
Technically yes. You will be able to spot Venus, Mars, Jupiter and potentially Saturn with the naked eye in timely conditions. However, Neptune and Uranus are simply too far away to locate. Note of astronomers That you will probably need a telescope with at least an opening of 8 inches to 50 times the magnification to see Uranus and its rings, and 150 times the magnification to see Neptune and its rings. If you are so equipped, give this telescope a point to Saturn. At 25 times the magnification, you will be able to see the Jewel of the crown of our solar system in all his glory.
The standard space visualization rules also apply here. You will want to move away from the city, where light pollution can obscure your point of view. Even the suburbs may not be far enough for many people. If you plan a long journey from the city and its environment, you will want to make sure that it is a clear evening with the least cloudy as possible.
If you are heading for the seven planets at the end of February, you will have a particularly difficult task in front of you because some of the planets will be quite close to the sun. You can You want to invest in UV protection for your eyes And be particularly careful about where you point your telescope.
How can I find the planets in the sky?
Given that Neptune and Uranus are particularly difficult to find twinned with the fact that Saturn and Venus will be right next to each other, there may be difficulties in finding the six planets in the sky. For this, there are some good tools available. Check Stellarium websitewith Night Sky Map of the Hour and Date. These should give you a good idea of the place where each planet is in relation to others. Star Walk 2 is an excellent application on Android And iOS. Stellarium has his own Android And IOS applications Also.
What is a planetary parade?
A planetary parade is A familiar term This applies when four or more planets align in the night sky at the same time. This is not a term of official astronomy, so you will rarely hear astronomers use it. However, NASA has been known To designate the phenomenon as a “parade of planets”.
The official term is planetary alignment, although this term tends to sow some confusion. Certain interpretations of the sentence include the planets aligned on the same side of the sun on each other. The planets can never align themselves exactly as you see in the photos, but they can all be on the same side of the sun and relatively close to the tail.
In daily use, however, planetary parades and alignments are the same thing and simply describe when several planets are visible in the night sky at the same time. These planets can be nowhere to each other in their solar orbits but are visible from the point of view of the earth.
