Find out how to watch the planet parade with Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars : NPR

A youth appears via a telescope throughout a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park in Queretaro, Mexico, on Oct. 19, 2024.

Ginnette Riquelme/AP

cover caption

toggle caption

Ginnette Riquelme/AP

Over the subsequent few weeks, a shocking parade of planets will glow throughout the night time sky, placing on a celestial spectacle that each novice and seasoned stargazers can simply observe.

All month, 4 planets — Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars — will seem to line up and be vibrant sufficient to see with the bare eye within the first few hours after darkish, according to NASA. Uranus and Neptune might be there, too, however would require binoculars or telescopes to identify.

“These multi-planet viewing alternatives aren’t tremendous uncommon, however they do not occur yearly, so it is value checking it out,” NASA added.

A sky chart reveals the planetary lineup seen after darkish in January 2025.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

cover caption

toggle caption

NASA/JPL-Caltech

For the reason that starting of January, Venus and Saturn have been drawing nearer and nearer to one another. The climax will happen Friday and Saturday, when the 2 planets will seem inside simply “a few finger widths’ distance aside” from Earth’s perspective, NASA stated. (Although in actuality, there are tons of of tens of millions of miles between them.)

In the meantime, Mars is at “opposition” this month. That is when a planet and the solar are straight reverse one another with Earth in between. This celestial occasion occurs about each two years for the pink planet.

Opposition is “across the time when the planet is at its closest to Earth, making it seem at its largest and brightest,” NASA wrote.

For these planning to identify the cosmic lineup, NASA stated Venus and Saturn might be seen within the southwest throughout the first couple of hours after darkish. At the moment, Jupiter will shine excessive overhead whereas Mars will rise within the east. A easy solution to distinguish a star from a planet is that planets are likely to shine steadily whereas stars twinkle, in keeping with NASA.

In June 2024, a planet parade that includes Saturn, the Moon, Mars and Jupiter was on show within the morning sky however solely two planets might be noticed with the bare eye.