Glittering stars within the night time sky are all the time an imposing sight that may cease you in your tracks.

But this month six planets grace the sky in what’s often known as a planetary parade, and most may be seen with the bare eye.

Planetary parades occur when a number of planets seem to line up within the night time sky without delay.

Here on the National Space Centre in Leicester the parade is thrilling information as they search to teach the general public.

Dhara Patel is an area professional on the National Space Centre and beforehand labored on the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

She says: “So a planetary parade people might often think of as planets lining up in the sky, or more so in space. So when we see pictures from NASA or in textbooks, they’re often drawn side by side. When we talk about a planetary parade as something you can see in the sky it’s that the planets appear in a roughly line-like position across the sky.”

Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are seen to the bare eye this month and for a part of February. Uranus and Neptune can solely be noticed with binoculars and telescopes.

Using marbles and a sheet of paper, Patel demonstrates the actual alignments of the present planetary parade.

“So we have the sun at the centre of our solar system, and then we know that planets orbit around it. And here’s our Earth. And from the Earth, when we look towards the more western part of the sky after sunset, probably around 6 or 7:00pm, we’ll see planets like Venus, Saturn and even Neptune that may be visible. But if we look towards the other part of the sky at roughly the same time, too, we’ll see Jupiter and Uranus and then Mars even further over to the east,” she says.

The National Space Centre opened in 2001 and has been educating folks of all ages for almost 25 years.

There are a number of reveals detailing the entire planets in our photo voltaic system.

During this month’s parade, Mars shines particularly vivid as a result of it’s situated straight reverse the solar. And on Friday and Saturday night time, skygazers will see Venus and Saturn snuggle up further shut — simply two levels aside.

To get in on the planetary hangout, go outdoors on a transparent night time a couple of hours after sundown between 7:00 and eight:30 p.m. and face south.

Venus and Saturn will glow within the southwestern sky, with Jupiter to the south and Mars to the southeast.

“So what’s awesome about trying to look for planets in the sky is that actually quite a few of them are visible to the naked eye. So you don’t need any tools, no binoculars or telescopes. So if you want to look for the naked eye planets, as we call them, then Venus and Saturn over in the western part of the sky, they’ll be visible to the eye. And then you should be able to spot Jupiter and Mars further over to the east. Venus and Jupiter typically are the brightest ones,” says Patel.

Even for those who stay in an city space with mild air pollution, the parade ought to nonetheless be seen simply after sundown as a result of planets sometimes seem brighter within the sky – the truth is, Patel says it would even be simpler to identify for novice skygazers.

The astronomical linkup is pretty widespread and might occur a couple of instances a 12 months relying on the variety of planets.

The same parade passed off final June however solely two planets have been seen to the bare eye.

Hannah Sparkes, from the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature says: “Planetary alignments that are minor, like two to three planets happen very often, especially with the inner planets. They can happen every few months. But when you get out to the gas giants, since they’re very far out there, have bigger orbits moving a little bit slower, those occur about every few decades, I’d say, but they persist for a long period of time. So about every 20 years we have an alignment between Jupiter and Saturn, and it’ll persist for quite a bit of time, a few decades in itself. So I’d say those 4 to 6 planet alignments can be frequent but it depends on kind of where you are in its cycle.”

Phone apps like Sky Map and Stellarium Mobile can assist with the place to look.

The parade is seen now and can proceed into mid-February so the day is much less crucial than the time of night time, in line with Kevin Williams, the director of the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium.

He says: “In terms of days, the day doesn’t matter as much as the time. Like you said, it’s visible now but once we get into mid February or so, it’s going to start to be more difficult to see Saturn and Venus because they’re going to be lower in the western sky, soon after sunset. So we’ll start to lose them in the brightness of sunset.”

Mercury is about to affix the parade on the finish of subsequent month, and the planets will slowly make their exit by the spring.

Source: Africanews