Planetary Parade
February 28, 2025
February 28th, 2025, the rare occurrence of planetary parade transpired. Planetary alignment—so-called planetary parade—is a visual phenomenon allowing you to see numerous Solar System’s planets in the sky at once. According to NASA, the planets in our solar system line up in oppositions and conjunctions as they orbit around the Sun. Opposition is when both the planet and Earth are located on the same side of the sun, while conjunction is when planets are seen close together in the sky. Planetary alignment itself is common as planets always line up along a line or arc in the sky as the orbit of planets around the Sun is a “flat, disc-shaped place.” When viewed from the Earth, the disc appears as a line called the ecliptic plane, creating the stunning view of a planetary parade.
So what makes planetary alignment so special?
While planetary alignment itself is the lining of planets viewed from Earth, what makes this phenomenon unique is that it allows people to observe several planets in the sky at the same time. The timing of these alignments is also a factor that makes this event unique since each planet orbits the Sun at a different speed and distance. When a planetary alignment takes place, it means that the orbits of these planets have positioned them in such a way that they appear aligned from our perspective. This rare occurrence offers a special opportunity for both astronomers and skywatchers to witness a unique cosmic event.
The planetary alignment on February 28th was special as it had a full seven planet parade where Saturn, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury were lined up simultaneously. While this is not a day-long event, this will slowly end due to the increasing daylight and decrease in altitude. Although small-scale alignments such as three or four happen pretty often, a full seven planet parade is a very unique occurrence. Various data reveal that the last full-seven planet parade occurred a few decades ago, and that the next one will not occur until 2040.
The best time to view the planetary parade is right after the sun sets because it is when all the planets make the clearest brief appearance up in the sky, providing an alluring view of planets in a line. However, spectating all seven planets with the naked eye is not possible. NASA reported that for February Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn can be viewed with the naked eye.
Other dates of planetary parades reported by NASA are four planet parades to take place in late August, 2025, and five planet parades in late October of 2028 and February of 2034.