
A planetary alignment will, quite literally, light up the skies once again. In case you missed this event in January, no worries – you get a second chance. The best part? You can see the planet parade with the naked eye!
Planets aligning
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are “aligned” during the first two weeks of February. You can see all of them with the naked eye, except Uranus and Neptune. You may catch these with a telescope, though.
We’ve seen the same show mid-January 2025.
Best time and places to see the planet parade
The parade is best seen through the first 2 weeks of February. If you have a very clear horizon, you may be able to watch it throughout the whole month of February. As an extra treat, Mercury shines through on February 24 and 25, 2025, making it possible to see seven planets for a few hours. It may be challenging with the naked eye, though.
Which planets are easier to see depends on the date, with Mars, Jupiter and Venus being the easiest to spot throughout the next 2 weeks. The best time to see the alignment is right after sunset, max. 45 minutes later. For the best view, try to get out of the city, as tall buildings or mountains could obstruct your view.
What’s a planetary alignment, or a planet parade?
Planets always appear in a line – not a perfectly straight one, but nevertheless, a line – so the alignment itself isn’t that unique. Planets revolve around the sun, and they all constantly travel at different speeds. Naturally, at some point they catch up with each other, for a limited amount of time. How limited? It depends on the planets’ distance from the sun. Thus, the alignment isn’t the surprise, but us seeing 4 planets at the same time, with the naked eye, is.
This show isn’t the most rare one, when it comes to celestial events, but it also doesn’t happen every year – so it’s absolutely worth checking out, especially for astronomy lovers!
More planetary alignments in 2025
In case you miss this one, or simply can’t get enough, there are more alignments that we expect to easily see during the next couple of months:
- Mid-April: we expect Neptune, Mercury, Saturn and Venus to align, but this time in the morning
- August: we expect another planet parade, but without Mars
Happy gazing, Vegas! Enjoy the beautiful Planet Parade the sky’s putting out for us.