As the new year rolled around, on January 21, the planet parade (planetary alignment) was at its peak, as Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune lit up the night sky, leaving astronomy enthusiasts thrilled.
The line in which these planets meet up is called an ecliptic, representing the plane in which the planets go around the sun in our solar system, according to NASA.
Although the planets all lined up at their brightest on the 21st, they were partially visible for several days before and after. Of these 6 planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were visible to the naked eye, while a telescope or strong binoculars were needed to see Neptune and Uranus.
While this event isn’t super rare, it is one of the less seen celestial occurrences, as it is a larger scale alignment compared to a mini alignment with three planets, and a small alignment with four planets. However the rarest is a great/full planetary alignment, where all of our planets line up, sometimes even including Pluto.
In late February, Mercury will join the celestial lineup across the sky, making this a seven planet alignment, however Saturn will slide out of view in early March.
According to Star Walk, the next seven planet alignment won’t happen until 2028, so they encourage you to take the time to view the event if you can.
