Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House
AI Summary2 min read
TL;DR
This week, a planet parade featuring Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter is visible to the naked eye after sunset, with Uranus and Neptune viewable via telescope. The lineup, appearing nearly in a line due to their orbits in the ecliptic plane, is visible globally through clear skies, especially this weekend.
Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House
Image Credit & Copyright: Prasun Agrawal
Explanation: Look up this week and see a whole bunch of planets. Just after sunset, looking west (mostly), planets Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter will all be visible to the unaided eye simultaneously. If you have a telescope, planets Uranus and Neptune can also be seen. In order up from the horizon, the lineup this week will be Venus (the brightest), Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter (second brightest). It doesn't matter where on Earth you live because this early evening planet parade will be visible through clear skies all around the globe. The planets will appear to be nearly in a line because they all orbit the Sun in nearly the same plane: the ecliptic. The featured image shows a similar planet parade that occurred in 2022, captured over the Sydney Opera House in southern Australia. Although visible all week, the planets will be most easily seen together this weekend.