Here's when you'll be able to see 5 planets in the night sky at once
More than half of the planets in our solar system will align in a rare "planetary parade" in the night sky during the last week of March.
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On the evening of March 28, the planets Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars and Venus will line up in an arc formation alongside the moon, according to the night sky app Star Walk.
The large planetary alignment – an astronomical term used to describe the event when several planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time – will be visible soon after sunset within a small 50-degree sector in the sky, according to Star Walk.
Jupiter and Mercury will be located closer to the horizon, while Venus and Uranus will appear higher up in the sky. Mars can be found shining near the first quarter moon. The alignment will be visible in the days before and after March 28, but that date will be the best day for observation.
Venus, Jupiter and Mars will appear the brightest and be the easiest to see in the sky, but you'll likely need binoculars to spot Uranus and Mercury due to their vast distance from us. To easily view the planetary alignment, Star Walk recommends using the astronomy app Sky Tonight. When pointing your device to the sky, the app will display a live representation of the sky above.
It's not that unusual to see two or three planets in the sky at once, but an alignment of five is less common. Last June, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn aligned in the same order as their positions from the Sun for the first time since December 2004.
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Many in the space community are excited to witness the astronomical event, including Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin who tweeted on March 16: "Don't forget to look to the sky the end of the month for the planetary alignment which will have at least five planets —plus the moon— all visible in almost an arc shape as seen from Earth."
Despite some beliefs, Star Walk assures that planetary alignments won't cause tsunamis, earthquakes, or other global disasters. "This nonsense has been repeatedly debunked," Star Walk said. "In reality, alignments do not affect gravity or human life, but they are cool stargazing events."
If you miss this cosmic event, another five-planet alignment of Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn within a 95-degree sector will be visible on the morning of June 17.
