This might be controversial but if you heard about the incredible planet parade occurring on 25th of January, we have some great news for you….
Social media is buzzing with the news of a “once in 396 billion years” planetary alignment on Saturday, January 25th. We are going to answer the questions: What is a planetary alignment? Is social media reliable? (Spoiler alert: No.) And is it only on January 25th that these planets can be seen?
In January and for half of February, four planets are easily visible to the naked eye in the early evening. Towards the end of February, Saturn begins to set and continues its orbit behind our Sun, becoming visible again in the early night skies of September. Venus will remain visible in the early evening into March, while Jupiter and Mars will be visible well into early summer 2025.
Although Neptune and Uranus are high in the night sky during this time, they are invisible to the naked eye and can only be clearly seen with a large telescope, such as our 14-inch Meade at Battlesteads Observatory.
Is a parade of planets rare, and does it happen regularly? This time next year, in January 2026, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune will once again grace our skies together, with Venus joining them in the spring of 2026. Mars will rejoin the parade in 2027, as it orbits the Sun every two years. Once again, five planets will be visible in the evening throughout late winter and early spring. The current planetary alignment is a spectacular sight and amazing to view from the Battlesteads Dark Sky Observatory, but it is not an irregular or peculiar alignment. When the planets appear, they are always aligned along a line astronomers call the “ecliptic.” A planetary parade is simply a term used on social media when three or more planets are visible in the sky, which happens every year for several weeks at a time.
If you miss it this Saturday, January 25th, you can book into any of our other early Saturday events for the next few weeks. If you attend any of our later evening events on any day of the week, you will still have an amazing time and be able to see Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, and Uranus. All our events can be booked on our online calendar here, https://www.battlesteads.com/observatory/calendar
To easily find the planets, this quick and simple guide will help. From about 5:30 PM, Venus becomes brightly visible in the west, with Saturn, a small orange dot, just to its left. Saturn and Venus set below the horizon at about 8:30 PM, so if you want to see these planets, you’ll need a clear line of sight to the west and should start observing the skies in the early evening after sunset.
As Venus becomes visible just after sunset, another bright “star” lights up almost directly southeast, this bright object is the planet Jupiter. If you look further east, you’ll see a bright orangey-red dot in the sky, which is the planet Mars. The planet Mercury is not visible during the night, but it rises in the morning just before the Sun, around 8:15 AM. If you want a good chance of seeing it, the best place to go is somewhere with clear views of the eastern horizon, such as the coast or a hill.
The Astro Ventures astronomers at Battlesteads Observatory use the app “Stellarium” and the website Solar System Scope to find this information and help plan events. If you want to learn more about these easy-to-use tools, come along to any of our events, and our expert astronomers will show you how to use them to explore the night sky.