By Anna Bradshaw Staff Writer
Space in itself is a thrilling topic to discuss, as well as the bodies that occupy the vast universe. Planets, moons, exoplanets, stars, pulsars, and so much more are out there just waiting to be discovered. As it turns out in our luck, one of space’s many amazing events is one that we humans can see from Earth this year!
While space exploration is very expensive and left to professionals such as NASA, that doesn’t condemn the average person to only hearing about its updates. Of course you can purchase your own space observation equipment and look for yourself, draw your own conclusions, and learn about the few mysteries scientists have debunked for yourself. A perfect excuse to pull out that space equipment, or even just a pair of binoculars, would be during the upcoming event on January 21. At the start of this amazing event, there is something that will appear called a “planetary parade” or “planetary alignment” of six planets, including Venus, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. They will all be seen in the sky aligned with one another, and should be visible from all parts of the globe.
To find this parade, you’ll need to look for something called an ecliptic. An ecliptic is an imaginary line that the path of the sun traces across the sky, which dips down in a sort of curve from the sky down toward the ground of Earth.
“When multiple planets are visible in the sky, they’ll be located roughly along this line [ecliptic line]. And this is one of the ways of telling the difference between a planet and a star. It’s also why so-called ‘planetary alignments’ are really an inevitability. But that doesn’t make them any less special to see for yourself,” explains the website Sky At Night Magazine in their article on Planetary Alignment 2025.
Now of course you won’t need to buy thousands of dollars worth of space equipment for this, as thankfully all the planets will be visible to the naked eye. Luckily, if you happen to miss seeing this event on the twenty-first, don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to see it again. This alignment of planets should be visible for about a month, ending around mid to late February. However, keep in mind that the planets naturally will shift over time, so their positions as recorded on the twenty-first will not be the same for the other days or in later February. To be able to see this event, it is recommended from multiple websites to step outside and find a place away from lights in a large clearing, just after sunset, as the event will shortly begin after this.
