February ends with a treat for sky-gazers: a parade of seven planets across the night sky, including Mercury, Uranus and Neptune alongside typically bright planets such as Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. But glimpsing all seven won’t be easy, astronomers say.
While the seven planets will all be above the horizon just after sunset, Mercury and Saturn will be more difficult to spot Thursday and Friday evenings.
“Mercury and Saturn are particularly close to the sun and will be lost in the sun’s glare, though Mercury will get higher and higher each day and easier to spot,” said Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, in a statement.
“To have a chance, you will need a clear view of the western horizon and maybe binoculars to spot them after the sun sets.”
Venus and Jupiter will be easier to spot thanks to their brightness, and Mars will stand out with its telltale reddish-orange hue, Schmoll said.
However, Neptune and Uranus are not typically visible to the naked eye and will likely require a telescope or binoculars to see, she said.
Here’s why there are suddenly so many planets visible in the night sky and how long you can look forward to seeing them.
How to spot the seven planets
Saturn and Mercury are going to be “horizon huggers,” likely only visible in twilight or the illumination in the sky after the sun has dipped below the horizon, with Venus visible at the same time, said EarthSky editor Marcy Curran in a recent YouTube video.
“Uranus and Neptune, of course, are there, but you need optical aid to see them, and you’ll probably not catch Jupiter and Mars, which are higher in the sky, until at least darkness starts to fall,” she said.
Curran advised looking for Mercury and Saturn, which will be low on the western horizon, about 30 minutes after sunset, with the aid of binoculars.
“The planets will be in the southern half of the sky,” said Emily Elizondo, a doctoral student of physics and astrophysics at Michigan State, in a statement.
“Toward the southwest is where Saturn and Mercury are going to be, and then toward the southeast is where Mars and Jupiter will be, and then Neptune, Venus and Uranus will be in between. There are apps that use motion-sensing technology, so you can type in the planet’s name, and it’ll show you where that planet is in the sky.”
Let Venus help
Not sure where to look? When in doubt, look for Venus. It will be at its brightest, but the planet will be low in the western sky and dropping closer to the horizon each night before it disappears from the night sky by mid-March, said EarthSky contributor John Goss. Venus will reappear in the morning sky in April, according to NASA.
Unlike stars, which appear to twinkle, Venus will remain a steady bright light high above in the sky.
When evening twilight ends at 6:58 p.m. ET Friday, the Cheshire moon will appear, according to the space agency. Around this time of year, the celestial object has earned this name because the thin sliver of the waxing crescent moon resembles the grin of the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Hawaiian mythology also refers to this phase as the wet moon because it resembles a bowl that could contain liquid, according to NASA.
The crescent moon will briefly appear just above the western horizon and set about two minutes later. Mercury, which will continue to climb higher into the sky after sunset in the coming days, will be a few degrees above the moon. Venus will be above both Mercury and the moon, according to EarthSky.
The crescent moon, Venus and Mercury will continue to appear in a line through Sunday, according to EarthSky.
“Let bright Venus be your guide, it’s going to show up first because it’s higher in the sky, it’s obviously brighter,” Curran said. “So once you find Venus, below it towards the horizon look for a skinny little moon and Mercury.”
Goss predicts that Jupiter will be high in the southern sky and remain visible for another couple of months, while Mars, high in the eastern sky, will be observable for another three to four months.
If clouds or inclement weather obscure your view, the Virtual Telescope Project will share a live stream captured by its robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy, located in Tuscany under dark skies.
A string of planets
The reason all the planets seem aligned in the night sky is because of their orbits around the sun.
“All of our planets go around the sun in a flat disk,” Schmoll said. “From our perspective on Earth, that disk looks like a curved line across the sky stretching from east to the west. As a result, all our planets will always be seen along this line. When we have multiple planets visible, that line can look quite spectacular.”
Typically, the planets are spread along the plane they orbit around the sun, called the ecliptic, because of their separate motions. But in February, the planets are all on the same side of the sun from our perspective on Earth, causing them to appear together in the night sky.
“This February is special because instead of being spaced far apart, they happen to be found along just a part of the path, so they all show up in the sky at the same time,” said Seth Jacobson, an assistant professor in the College of Natural Science’s department of Earth and environmental sciences at Michigan State University.
