Look Up! Rare ‘Planetary Parade’ set to light up skies skies this February
A rare planetary alignment will grace the skies over Telangana this month, peaking on February 28. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter will appear in a single row shortly after sunset, visible even without telescopes.
Hyderabad: The night sky over Telangana is set to host a spectacular cosmic display this month. In a rare celestial ‘parade’, six planets will align in a single row, offering both casual stargazers and amateur astronomers a unique opportunity to witness the event.
While the ‘parade’ technically began mid-February, it will reach its peak on February 28 when Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter will be positioned in the evening sky simultaneously. For those watching from the Deccan Plateau, the celestial show begins shortly after sunset.
According to NASA, the ‘alignment’ of planets is not a literal straight line in space but a visual phenomenon caused by the solar system. All planets orbit the Sun on a relatively flat, shared plane called the ecliptic. As they travel at different speeds, there are rare moments when they appear to cluster in the same patch of sky from our perspective on Earth.
One does not need expensive equipment to observe the planetary alignment as it can be seen with the naked eye, appearing as steady, bright points of light that do not twinkle like stars.
Venus and Jupiter will be the showstoppers, as they will be visible to everybody even through the city lights. However, while casual observers can enjoy the main line-up, amateur astronomers, if they have access to telescopes, can observe faint bluish Neptune or even the moons of Jupiter, which cannot be seen through the naked eye.
