On the night of January 25, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn shone bright in the sky. This astronomical alignment is known as a planetary parade. All the planets meet up on the same side of the Sun forming an expansive arc above the Earth. Interestingly, most of these are visible to the naked eye if the night sky is clear.
A parade of planets happens when two or more planets become visible in the night sky. It needs to be noted that this is not an official astronomical terminology. However, it is called a planetary parade owing to the visibility of these planets during the occasion. Among the planets that are about to be visible, Jupiter will be the most luminous, followed by Mars and Venus, which will attain their peak brightness in the post-sunset horizon. Reportedly, Mercury will be more of a blink and shine, while Saturn is expected to be visible prominently.
Astronomical lineups are quite common. However, what sets this month’s planetary parade apart is the number of bright planets on display, including Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus, which in itself is rare. Although these four planets are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, Uranus and Neptune may require binoculars or a telescope.
This time The Virtual Telescope Project in Italy is offering a free webcast of the planetary parade. This is a great opportunity to see this stellar event. Originally scheduled for January 25 at 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT) or 11:00 p.m. IST, the live stream, hosted by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, was set to showcase telescopic views of all six planets in alignment. However, due to dense cloud cover, the live feed has been rescheduled to January 26 at 17:50 UTC (11:00 p.m. IST).
Below is the link to the webcast in case you missed the event.
Italy’s The Virtual Telescope Project is a platform reportedly powered by robotic telescopes offering real-time, breathtaking views of the night sky from around the world. The project offers live online events that are led by experts. Known for its high-quality astronomical content, the project makes cosmos exploration accessible to everyone. The project was set up in 2006, and it combines cutting-edge research with public outreach.
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