The extraordinary alignment of 5 planets and the Moon in a rare ‘parade’ in the sky – 03/28/2023 – Science

Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Mars and the Moon all line up in an arc across the sky this week, with some visible to the naked eye.

The phenomenon can be observed throughout the week, but the best day to appreciate the alignment will be on Tuesday (28/3), Bill Cooke, an astronomer at NASA, the US space agency, told NBC News.

This is often called the “planetary parade” and is visible after sunset.

The alignment can be seen from anywhere on Earth as long as you have clear skies and a good view of the western horizon.

Cooke explained that it will be easy to identify Venus and Mars, because their brightness is intense.

Venus will be one of the brightest spots in the sky, and Mars will be close to the Moon with a reddish hue.

Mercury and Uranus can be more difficult to detect as they will be darker.

“With the naked eye, even from a city with lights, Jupiter, Venus, the Moon and Mars should be easily visible. Uranus should be visible with a medium-sized telescope, and Mercury is an added challenge for the very determined,” said the astronomer Jake Foster of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

Last summer, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all aligned in a rare planetary conjunction.

Foster stated that such alignments are very particular from our perspective on Earth.

“The planets aren’t lined up right now, they’re all spread out across the Solar System, but just from our perspective, every now and then, they get close enough to each other in the sky that we can see some of them like that,” he said.

The best chance of locating planets is away from bright city lights, somewhere with a clear, unobstructed view.

You need to observe in the early evening because Mercury and Jupiter will quickly disappear over the horizon, according to experts.