BENGALURU: Bengaluru skywatchers hoping to witness the much-publicised six-planet alignment on February 28 were met with disappointment, as only Jupiter was clearly visible from the city. The event, described as a “planetary parade,” involved Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Neptune appearing in the same region of the western sky after sunset and Uranus much higher in the sky. However, urban conditions and astronomical factors limited visibility.
Director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Dr BR Guruprasad, explained that four of the planets- Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Neptune were positioned very close to the western horizon at sunset. “Buildings, twilight, light pollution, moon and thin clouds made it extremely difficult to spot them from Bengaluru,” he said.
Mercury, the smallest and closest planet to the sun, sets shortly after sunset, making it hard to observe. Venus, though bright, was also too low on the horizon to be easily visible. Saturn appeared faint and low. Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye and requires a telescope. Uranus, positioned higher, lies at the edge of human visibility and is difficult to locate without optical aid.
In contrast, Jupiter stood out as a bright, steady point of light high in the sky. Through a telescope, observers could see its cloud bands and four Galilean moons, making it the highlight of the evening. Experts said that such alignments are not perfectly straight lines in space, but an apparent clustering from Earth’s perspective, as planets orbit the Sun at different distances and speeds. While multi-planet groupings are relatively rare, visibility depends heavily on local viewing conditions, with rural areas offering better chances than light-polluted cities.