How to Watch the Rare Planet Parade Twinkle Across the Night Sky

Stargazers are in for a treat as six planets will appear to align together in the night skies, decorating our views of the cosmos for the rest of January and into February.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will all be visible side by side, forming a line across the sky, while Mercury will unfortunately be a no-show. The rare planetary alignment can be enjoyed over the next few weeks, with most of the planets of the solar system appearing as a bright twinkle to the naked eye, according to NASA.

The six planets only appear to align from our viewpoint from Earth, a bit of a cosmic optical illusion as each follows a widely varying elliptical path around the Sun. Their alignment in the night sky, however, depends on the orbit and position of each planet as seen from Earth.

While two or three planets aligning next to one another in the night sky is quite common, seeing four or five planets all at once is a rare occasion. “These multi-planet viewing opportunities aren’t super rare, but they don’t happen every year, so it’s worth checking it out,” NASA wrote.

How to see the planet parade

Since the beginning of January, the planets have been drawing closer to one another. Venus and Saturn came within just a finger width’s apart in our view of the night sky this week in a dual planetary conjunction. In reality, the two planets are hundreds of millions of miles apart. Mars, meanwhile, is in opposition, that means it is directly opposite the Sun from Earth and will shine brightly all night long throughout the month.

Sky chart showing the planetary conjunction as it’ll be seen in January. © NASA/Caltech

Venus and Saturn will appear in the southwestern skies in the first couple of hours after dark, while Jupiter will shine high overhead, and Mars will appear in the eastern skies, according to NASA. All four of those planets can be spotted with the naked eye, but you will need a telescope or high-powered binoculars to see Uranus and Neptune.

The planetary alignment will likely be most visible about 30 to 60 minutes before sunrise. It’s best viewed from a high, dark vantage point with little to no light pollution and an unobscured view of the sky.

The line formed by the planets in the night sky is called the ecliptic, and it represents the plane of the solar system in which the planets orbit around the Sun, according to NASA. This is a rare opportunity to marvel at the scale of the solar system that houses our planet, and see the mighty planets twinkle in the sky.

No worries if you can’t view the spectacle for yourself—Europe’s Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 is hosting a special live feed of the conjunction. The streaming begins at 12:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. UTC) on January 25.