Get ready for a planetary parade featuring all 7 of the other planets - Science News

A planetary parade is set to become visible in the night sky in January 2025. Six planets will come in line and will be visible together for weeks after that. A seventh member of the solar system will later join them, giving skygazers a New Year's treat.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus can be seen together, shining in the sky in the first month of 2025. These six planets will start becoming visible in the days before Jan. 21, 2025. They will remain there for around four weeks afterwards.

Four of these planets - Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn - are likely to be visible to the naked eye. However, you'll need a telescope to watch Uranus and Neptune.

The best time to watch the planetary parade is after sunset, at around 8:30 pm local time. Venus, Saturn and Neptune won't stay up for long and will be on the horizon for only some time. They will go below the horizon from 11:30 pm to midnight.

Meanwhile, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will remain in the sky for almost the entire night. They will also slowly start setting with Mars last to go down just before sunrise.

While there have been a few planetary parades in the past, this one is expected to be the best of all since it will continue to remain visible for a long time.

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The planets will be sitting in the best positions and will present a spectacular view for weeks, at least until the end of February.

The exciting thing about this cosmic spectacle is that it will turn into a seven-planet parade for a few days. All the other seven planets of our solar system will be visible at the same time when Mercury also joins the party. However, it might be hard to catch all of them together since Saturn, Mercury and Neptune would be too close to the Sun when it sets.

Their visibility will decrease by the start of March as Mercury, Saturn and Neptune would have moved too close to the sun. Soon Venus will also become less and less visible. Jupiter, Mars and Uranus would be left there for the next few weeks.

The planetary parade is expected to be visible at almost all locations, not only in the US but also in Mexico, Canada and India since the spectacle will remain in the sky for weeks.

The best viewing window will be between Jan 21, 2025, and Feb 21, 2025. The week of Jan 29 during the new moon will be the most ideal time to watch the planetary parade.

Anamica Singh started her career as a sports journalist and then moved on to writing on entertainment, news and lifestyle. She dabbles in copy editing, vid