While such a lineup is uncommon, the event might not look exactly how you’re imagining it
Margherita Bassi February 27, 2025 3:54 p.m.
This week, stargazers will be rewarded with a special treat: a chance to glimpse all seven other planets, which will align in the night sky at the same time. While Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have been gracing our skies throughout February, Mercury is now completing the party. The exact timeline of the celestial lineup will depend on your location.
Such planetary alignments, colloquially called planetary parades, have gained significant media attention in the last few months. And while they’re certainly deserving of awe, it’s worth straightening out some potential misconceptions before you step outside to observe.
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For example, you’ll need binoculars or a small telescope to see Uranus and Neptune—so, while the seven planets will be there, spotting them all will require specific equipment. Several of them will only appear low on the western horizon around twilight, but three will be bright and high in the sky after sunset.
And while February 28 is when this alignment will be visible in most places around the world, the moment with the best view might change depending on where you’re looking up from, per the stargazing app Star Walk.
With that said, the parade still “makes for a very nice excuse to go outside at night, maybe with a glass of wine, and enjoy the night sky,” as Gerard van Belle, director of science at Lowell Observatory, tells the New York Times’ Katrina Miller.
What is a planetary alignment?
The orbits of our solar system’s planets—including Earth—are all similarly oriented, forming a disk shape around the sun. They all chart their courses around our star in roughly the same plane, known as the ecliptic. This means that, as seen from our perspective, the other planets will always appear in an approximate line or arc across the sky, even if it’s not a true lineup in space, according to NASA.
A planetary alignment is simply “when the planets ‘line up’ on the same side of the sun, generally speaking,” as van Belle tells Space.com’s Stefanie Waldek. “When this happens, we can see multiple planets in the night sky.”
The reason we don’t see all the planets every night is due to their varying orbital periods. For example, Venus and Mercury have smaller and faster orbits than the other planets in our solar system, meaning Venus is only visible for a couple of months at a time, and Mercury appears in even shorter bursts: for only a few weeks, if not a few days, according to NASA.
How rare is a planetary alignment?
We can see at least one planet from Earth almost every night, provided skies are clear, and up to two or three after sunset relatively frequently. The ability to spot four or five planets at the same time with the naked eye is “not exceedingly rare,” according to NASA, but it’s still noteworthy, since a couple of years often separate these events. A parade of all seven other planets in the sky is even more special, because these events “get rarer with each planet added to the chain,” as Ben Turner writes for Live Science.
In fact, “this ‘great planetary alignment’ won’t happen again until 2040,” David Armstrong, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick in England, tells BBC Sky at Night magazine’s Iain Todd. Plus, the alignment broadly coincides with a new moon: the best lunar phase for stargazing because it reflects the least amount of light.
What to expect to see during the seven-planet lineup
Tomorrow night, the best time to look up will be right after sunset, per New Scientist, when most of the planets will be close to the horizon.
Mercury, Neptune and Saturn will be very low in the western sky, and Venus will appear brightly above them. Jupiter will be high overhead in the constellation Taurus, and Uranus will lie nearby, though not visible to the naked eye unless your skies are exceptionally dark. Mars, with its distinctive red hue, will be the highest of them all, located in the constellation Gemini.
In another interesting sighting, Mercury will sit close to the slim crescent moon on February 28, according to EarthSky. Look to the west about 30 to 40 minutes after sunset to catch the pairing, which will be just below bright Venus.
Star Walk reports that Saturn will be the most difficult planet to spot because of its proximity to the sun—so if you plan to see it, get ready for a challenge!
While you might not be able to catch sight of each celestial target, “it’s great to see the interest the planetary parade is generating,” Armstrong tells New Scientist’s Leah Crane. “Engagement in astronomy, looking up at the sky, and appreciating the wonder of our solar system are all fantastic, and I encourage anyone interested to take the time to step outside and see the planets with their own eyes if they get the chance over the next few days, and a clear sky.”
