Funviralpark The planets of our solar system lined up in the sky Wednesday night in an astronomical phenomenon visible from Earth known as the “planetary parade.”
The phenomenon, which was also seen on Tuesday night, gave skywatchers a closer look at Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with the naked eye. I was able to see Uranus and Neptune with binoculars and a telescope.
A planetary parade is not a very rare event and tends to occur at least every few years.In fact, the last time the alignment of the eight planets happened was June.
To see this phenomenon, it is recommended to look south after sunset. From east to west, the planets appeared in the following order: Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Venus.
“People look south about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset before Mercury and Venus get too close to the horizon to be seen,” says Vahé Perroomian, professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Southern California. There must be,” he said. “When it gets dark, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars will be visible southeast to east.”
The planets can appear together in the same part of the sky while they revolve around the sun, Perumian told CBS News.
“Mercury makes one orbit in 88 days, Venus makes one orbit in 225 days. The outer planets move more slowly. Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit the Sun, Saturn takes 29.” He said. “So, as long as we can see Jupiter and Saturn, the rest of the planets will eventually align, unless they are on opposite sides of the Sun from our point of view.”
It takes Neptune and Uranus 165 and 84 years to orbit the Sun, respectively, so being able to see them at the same time is a huge feat.
Both planets “spend considerable time on opposite sides of the Sun from our perspective,” said Perumian.
Uranus and Neptune were relatively close Wednesday night, but Uranus is moving around the Sun twice as fast as Neptune, so the planets will return to being farther apart from each other.
As a result, “for decades it will be impossible to see both planets in the night sky at the same time,” Perumian added.
