A rare celestial event is captivating stargazers as six planets line up in a striking display, says Professor Chandana Jayaratne, Director of the Astronomy and Space Sciences Unit, Department of Physics, University of Colombo.

The parade includes Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which can be observed along the same normal path in the night sky.

According to Professor Jayaratne, this unusual phenomenon can be seen with the naked eye for approximately 90 minutes on a clear evening after sunset. “This is a unique opportunity for those interested in watching a rare planetary parade without specialized equipment,” he added.

Commonly known as a planetary parade, this astronomical parade features all the planets lining up on the same side of the Sun, forming a broad arc above the Earth. Interestingly, many of these can be seen with the naked eye if the night sky is clear.

When to see the planetary parade?

Starting on January 21 and reaching its peak around January 29, this spectacular phenomenon will be visible until mid-February. Although the six planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will be best seen on January 25, the parade will take over the sky for two months, and by the end of February, Mercury will join the parade; which will finally make it a planetary parade of seven planets.

From February 28 to March 12, Mercury will reach maximum visibility, completing the cosmic spectacle of the seven planets. Although the planets will not be perfectly aligned, their positions will follow the orbital plane of our solar system.

To watch a planetary parade, you can mainly see the bright planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with your naked eye; however, to get a better look at the fainter planets like Uranus and Neptune, you will need binoculars or a telescope. For the best view, choose a location that is dark and away from city lights. This celestial event, visible to the naked eye, offers a rare opportunity to marvel at the wonders of our solar system! You should not miss it.

When is the best time to visit?

The best time to watch this event is about 45-90 minutes after sunset. The four planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye immediately after sunset, but a telescope is required for Uranus and Neptune.

What’s so special about the planetary parade?

What makes this event stand out? Six planets will be visible, four of them with the naked eye. However, such events are not just a spectacle for stargazers – they can have a real impact on our solar system and provide new insights into our place in it.

The eight major planets in our solar system orbit the sun in the same flat plane, and they all move at different speeds. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, completes one orbit – a planetary year – in 88 days. In fact, an Earth year is 365 days, and at the high end, Neptune takes 60,190 days, or about 165 Earth years, to complete one revolution of our star.

Because of the different speeds of the planets, at times, several of them may be roughly aligned on the same side of the Sun.

From Earth, if the orbits are aligned correctly, we can see several planets in our night sky at once. On rare occasions, all the planets will align so that they all appear together along the path traced by the Sun in our night sky, forming a planetary system.

On the other hand, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are bright enough to see with the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune require binoculars or a telescope to spot.

In January and February, you can witness the rare event of a planetary parade.

Since the planets are not exactly aligned, their orbital planes in the solar system cause them to appear as an arc across the sky. On clear nights in January and February, all the planets except Mercury will be visible. On February 28, all seven planets will be visible, making it a spectacular sight for observers on the ground.

According to Jennifer Millard, a science communicator and astronomer at Fifth Star Labs in the UK, “There’s something special about looking at planets with your own eyes. Yes, you can go to Google and get the most spectacular view of all these planets. But when you look at these objects, these are photons that have traveled millions or billions of miles through space to hit your retina.”