Planet watching is one of the most amazing ways to witness the wonders of the night sky – and there’s no better way to see them than in planetary alignment. Here many planets are aligned. On January 21, six planets—Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—will appear together in the sky, and their alignment will be easy to see from almost anywhere. part of the globe. But if you miss your chance to observe the night sky on January 21, don’t worry: There’s plenty of time to see the parade of planets. The alignment will be visible for about a month, until the middle to the end of February. However, the position of the planets will change at this time, so the position on January 21 will not be the same as the position at the end of February. While conjunctions of two planets are quite common, alignments of five or more are rare. There will be two more planetary alignments featuring five or more planets this year, but after that, an alignment of five or more planets won’t happen until 2040. Here’s everything you need to know to see this planetary alignment. best view, allow 20 to 30 minutes for the eyes to adjust to the dark. You’ll want to view this planetary alignment after sunset and from a location away from artificial light, which makes it difficult to see objects in the night sky. Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Venus will be visible. in an arc from east to west. You can see these four planets with the naked eye; However, both of them—Uranus and Neptune—require a good pair of high-powered binoculars or background telescopes. Exactly where in the night sky to look for each planet on the 21st is outlined below, but if you’re not sure how to find them, don’t worry—apps like Stellarium can help you find planets and other celestial objects with ease. The best time to see the planets is shortly after sunset, as the three planets—Venus, Saturn, and Neptune—set between 9 and 10:30 a.m. local time. time. Note that the exact time each planet rises and sets will vary slightly according to your location on Earth; you can use websites like Time and Date to find the exact time where you are. It’s best to start watching the sky in the evening if you can, because Venus, Saturn, and Neptune will move lower in the horizon before they set, and that’s why. will be more and more difficult to see as the evening. Mars has just reached opposition—meaning Earth is directly between it and the sun—so the Red Planet will appear largest and brightest and will be visible all night. Mars is easy to see with the naked eye. But if you use a background telescope, you will be able to see the north polar ice cap, which is more than 600 miles wide, and the Vallis Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system, which runs along the equator of Mars and is complete. It is 1,800 miles long.JupiterJupiter will be west of Mars, in the constellation Taurus. Jupiter is easy to see with the naked eye. However, a pair of high-powered binoculars will allow you to see Jupiter’s moons and possibly its cloud bands. A background telescope will allow you to see the giant planet in more detail. Look for Jupiter’s band of clouds and the amazing Red Spot, an anticyclone more than 10,000 miles wide—1.3 times the width of Earth. The Red Spot is not always visible from Earth, because Jupiter’s day is about 10 hours long, meaning that storms spend a considerable amount of time moving away from Earth on many nights. You can use this calculator from Sky & Telescope to see when it might be visible from your location. Jupiter will be visible at night: Rising in the mid-to-evening hours of January 21 and setting between 3 and 5 am. January 22, depending on the exact location.UranusOn the 21st, Uranus will be about 50 degrees west of Jupiter and slightly below. Uranus will appear close to the Pleiades, a group of bright stars that can be seen with the naked eye. You’ll need a pair of high-powered binoculars or a background telescope to see Uranus, as it’s too dim to easily see with the naked eye. . Through the equipment, Uranus appears as a pale blue star. Although Uranus has rings, he cannot see them, even with his viewing equipment. However, if you have a powerful background telescope, you can see the moon.
See 6 Aligned Planets on January 21st
