Experts say Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus will be the most visible to the naked eye this month, especially around 21 January, although there is potential to also spot Neptune and Uranus with the help of a good telescope.
A planet parade, also known as a planetary alignment, is an astronomical event in which multiple planets in the solar system appear close to each other in the sky, forming a noticeable grouping.
The alignment can include anywhere from two to all of the planets visible from Earth, sometimes along with the Moon. Their orbits bring them into the same region of the sky at roughly the same time.
“They happen to all be in their orbits on the same side of our sun, within the same degrees in our sky, so that we can see them,” Astrophysicist Dr Rebecca Allen, co-director of Swinburne University’s space technology and industry institute told the Guardian. She points out the planets remain a vast distance from each other, and us, so it is all a matter of perspective in how they appear.
Experts say the best time to spot the planets is about an hour after sunset.
To distinguish them, facing north, Venus and Saturn will appear to the left as a bright pair, and Jupiter to the right, followed by Mars in “brilliant red” a couple of hours later.
Experts suggest downloading a star mapping app to your phone, you can hold up to help locate the stars, like Stellarium or Star Walk.
The planetary parade is just one of the exciting events to expect in the night sky this year, including a total eclipse of the moon, Saturn’s rings ‘disappearing’, meteors and more.