Have you ever heard in regards to the “planetary parade?” When you’ve not seen the wild claims in regards to the so-called alignment of six or seven planets in your social media feeds, you quickly will. Is it a reality? It’s actually not a fiction, with NASA because the supply for a declare that six planets — Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus — will quickly be seen collectively within the night sky. The phrase ‘seen’ is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting as a result of, sadly, solely two of these planets shall be simply seen, whereas two are marginal and two require both binoculars, a telescope or a digital camera and a digital camera lens. Nonetheless, if you recognize what to anticipate and have the precise gear, seeing six planets in a single night shall be potential.
February ‘planetary parade’: Utilizing binoculars
Products with 7x to 10x magnification and either a 42mm or 50mm aperture are ideal for astronomy, providing a wide field of view yet usable for sweeping across the western horizon to pick out dimmer objects near the glow of a recent sunset. About 7×42, 7×50, 10×42 or 10×50 products — or anything similar — balance brightness, magnification and stability, allowing you to get a good view of the fainter members of the “planetary parade.”
Keeping to a maximum 50mm aperture means you’ll be able to keep the binoculars steady enough to identify planets. However, if you need a helping hand, consider image-stabilized binoculars, which use clever engineering and electronics to reduce hand shake, helping to reveal the subtle light of faint planets and making it easier to “star hop” from one object to another.
February ‘planetary parade’: Using a telescope
For planetary observing, refractor telescopes, Dobsonians, Schmidt-Cassegrains, and Maksutov-Cassegrains boast long focal lengths and can accommodate eyepieces that offer high magnifications.
A six-inch telescope will give you a reasonable chance of glimpsing Saturn, though twilight conditions will make that challenging. That’s even more the case for Neptune, which will require excellent conditions. The same telescope will likely reveal Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s cloud bands, transforming them from bright dots into distinct worlds.
Any smaller telescope will be useful for Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and the moon. The larger the telescope’s aperture, the more light it gathers and the higher the magnification it allows, revealing more detail.
Smart telescopes, which automatically locate and track objects, will simplify the hunt for Uranus and Neptune. By removing guesswork, they can quickly position the instrument and even stack digital images to enhance faint targets — though don’t expect great images.
How to take photos of the ‘planetary parade’
Photographing this planetary gathering requires planning and realistic expectations. The planets will be clustered low in the west-southwest for a short time, with Jupiter halfway between the southern horizon and overhead. That’s a huge swathe of the night sky. Add the fact that the sky will be fairly bright in the west around the sunset point, and imaging this event will be challenging. If your goal is nevertheless a wide-angle landscape image showing multiple planets at once, use a manual mirrorless camera or DSLR with a wide-angle lens (about 14mm) mounted on a sturdy tripod.
For bright planets like Venus and Jupiter, a smartphone attached to a telescope using an adapter can capture basic images — though results will be very basic. The same is true for smart telescopes, which can only capture rudimentary images of planets (most are designed for faint deep-sky objects).
More advanced observers can use dedicated astronomy cameras attached directly to telescopes. These “astrocams” record high-frame-rate video, which can later be stacked and processed to reveal planetary detail. That will work well on Jupiter and Uranus in darkness, and to some extent on Saturn and Neptune, but the latter are not well positioned for astrophotography.
The late-February parade may require luck, patience and equipment, but for those willing to step outside just after sunset, it offers a rewarding sweep of the solar system in a single evening sky. Keep expectations low and hopes high — then prepare for the total lunar eclipse on March 3.
‘Planetary parade’ or ‘planetary alignment’?
What’s about to happen is more a matter of geometry and timing than a perfectly straight lineup in space. The planets orbit the sun in roughly the same flat plane, known as the ecliptic. That’s the same path the sun traces across our daytime sky, and the route followed closely by the moon and planets at night. Since they share the same orbital plane, planets always appear along a similar arc in the sky. When several happen to be positioned on the same side of the sun as Earth, they can become visible in the same general stretch of sky. That’s what’s happening this month, but planets are not forming a straight line in space; they’re just visible at the same time from our vantage point on Earth. Often mistakenly called a “planetary parade,” it’s much more accurate to describe it as a “planetary alignment.”
Regardless of the nomenclature or the chances of seeing every celestial body promised in headlines, it’s a great opportunity to get skywatching.
When and where to see February’s ‘planetary parade’
The key date is Saturday, Feb. 28. According to NASA, that evening offers one of the best opportunities to attempt the full sweep. It’s not the only night to have a look, and whatever night you try, timing and location will be critical.
The most important thing to remember is that this “planetary parade” will not be as easy as in February 2025, when Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were seen stretching across the sky. This time, not all will be visible to the naked eye, and some will be extremely challenging to detect.
The window is tight. About 30 minutes after sunset, Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune will briefly share the twilight sky. They will remain visible for roughly 45 minutes before slipping below the horizon. Where they appear, and for how long, will entirely depend on your location, so do check Stellarium Web or TimeAndDate’s Night Sky Tonight for rise and set instances.
Wherever you observe from, you’ll actually want clear skies and an unobstructed view due west. Mild air pollution has little influence on planetary visibility (save, maybe, for Uranus) as a result of planets are a lot nearer and brighter than stars. Nonetheless, a transparent western horizon, freed from buildings or bushes, is vital. Begin low on the western horizon and undergo the planets one after the other:
Venus
Optics required: Bare eye
The regular gentle of shiny Venus — shining at magnitude -3.8 — will make it the simplest planet to identify low within the west (a adverse magnitude means it is brighter, a constructive magnitude means it is fainter).
Mercury
Optics required: Binoculars
A couple of levels above Venus shall be Mercury, however it will likely be many instances dimmer at magnitude 2. It’s nonetheless probably seen to the bare eye underneath good atmospheric circumstances, although it’s way more more likely to seem solely in binoculars. Nonetheless, it was at its best elongation from the solar as seen from Earth on Feb. 19, so it will likely be getting decrease within the sky every night. The perfect recommendation is to get a view of it as near Feb. 19 as potential.
Saturn
Optics required: Binoculars
Barely larger than each inside planets shall be Saturn, which at magnitude 1 might require cautious scanning within the shiny twilight with a pair of binoculars. It’s on the wane, about to float into the solar’s glare, so it is from its finest.
Neptune
Optics required: Six-inch telescope e.g. Celestron Nexstar 6SE
Neptune, which can sit very near Saturn, shall be vastly difficult. When you’ve by no means seen Neptune, that possible received’t change throughout this “planetary parade” as a result of it’s going to be extremely exhausting to seek out within the twilight glare, even with a six-inch telescope. It shines at magnitude 8.
Jupiter
Optics required: Bare eye
Now the excellent news — Jupiter shall be straightforward to seek out. Blazing brightly within the constellation Gemini at magnitude -2.3, the enormous planet shall be excessive within the south and straightforward to see. It’ll shine intensely and steadily, and should you do have binoculars or a telescope, practice them on Jupiter to see its 4 Galilean moons strung out round it — Io, Callisto, Europa and Ganymede.
Uranus
Optics required: Binoculars or a small telescope
The sixth planet, Uranus, lies beneath the Pleiades star cluster (also called M45) within the constellation Taurus. It shines at magnitude 5.7. To seek out it, find Orion’s Belt and comply with that line upward towards the Pleiades. Uranus shall be slightly below, showing as a faint, greenish level by binoculars or a small telescope. Since it should stay “up” lengthy after the cluster of planets low within the west has set, you possibly can wait till it’s correctly darkish to search for Uranus.
The moon and M44
Optics required: Bare eye and binoculars
Including to the scene on Feb. 28 shall be a really shiny waxing gibbous moon, just some days from full, shining close to the Beehive Cluster (additionally referred to as M44), which shall be seen with binoculars.
