
BENGALURU: In a rare celestial event, seven planets of the Solar System will align by March this year. Six of the planets — Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — will begin to come into alignment on Tuesday (January 21), while Mercury will join on February 28.
While Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye, Uranus and Neptune will require a telescope to observe the alignment, which is called the ‘planetary parade’.
Dr BR Guruprasad, Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, explained to The New Indian Express that a ‘planetary parade’ is a phenomenon in which multiple planets appear in the sky at the same time from the perspective of observers from Earth, more clearly visible in the evening/night sky.
Highlighting the importance of this event, Guruprasad said while a few planets align when they cross paths in their orbits, having as many as seven align at once is rare.
Among these planets, Venus will be the brightest and the most eye-catching. Mars, with its red hue, will resemble a glowing bulb. Saturn will appear as a tiny dot in the western sky, while Jupiter will look similar, but positioned in the southern sky, Guruprasad said.
Uranus and Neptune will appear like small bright dots, but not be visible to the naked eye as they are much farther compared to the other planets in the alignment. “Their distance from Earth reduces the amount of sunlight they reflect, making them difficult to spot without the help of a telescope,” he said.
Interestingly, this year, March 8 will mark the maximum elongation, with Mercury reaching its farthest point from the Sun. Moreover, by March 12, Saturn will dip below the horizon for a while, but from February 28 to March 12, the planetary alignment will be at its peak, offering the best view of the celestial event.
‘Five planets will be visible to the naked eye’
However, as the name ‘parade’ suggests, the planets will not line up side by side in a straight line next to each other, but will appear at different points in the sky, all visible to the observer, five visible to the naked eye and two with the help of telescopes, he explained.
The alignment happens along the ecliptic, which is an imaginary line that marks a path that Earth and other planets follow while orbiting the Sun. All seven planets travel along this imaginary plane but at different speeds. Since each planet is at varying distances from the Sun, their orbital speeds vary, but come in alignment at rare times like this, Guruprasad said.