TEMPLE, Texas — A ‘planetary parade’ is making its way across the sky this January, with four planets, six if you have a telescope, visible in a planetary alignment.
According to NASA, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will all be visible in the first couple hours after dark throughout the month of January, Venus and Saturn being found in the southwest, Jupiter high overhead and Mars in the east.
Uranus and Neptune will also be in the lineup, according to NASA, but will likely require a telescope to see.
Since the planets all orbit the sun in roughly the same plane, referred to as the “ecliptic”, planets visible from Earth always appear in a line, NASA said, meaning a planetary alignment is not particularly rare. However, being able to see four, five, or in this case six planets at once is quite a bit less common.
EarthSky provided a description on how to see each planet in the alignment.
“Start in the west, where the sun has just set,” explains EarthSky on their website. “As the sky darkens, you’ll spot Venus easily, because it shines more brightly than any star. At the beginning of the month, golden Saturn is not too far above Venus. And Venus and Saturn will be closest around Jan. 17 and 18. After that, Saturn will be closer to the horizon and Venus will be higher in the sky. The other two planets that you can see with your eyes alone are Jupiter, which will be bright and higher in the sky than Venus or Saturn when night falls, and Mars, which is reddish and will be rising in the east soon after dark.”
More on how to spot the various planets in the alignment can be found at this link.
The planetary alignment is not the first spectacle to light up the skies this January. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaked on Jan. 3, The moon occulted, or passed in front of, Mars on Jan. 13 and Venus and Saturn came within just a “couple of finger widths’ distance” apart in the sky on Jan. 17 and 18, according to NASA.
Want to know more about all the astronomical events going on this month? Visit NASA’s website at this link for a full list.