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In astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
, a planetary parade, also known as a planetary alignment or planetary procession, occurs when multiple planets in the Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
appear close together in the night sky, visible at the same time from Earth. However, a planetary parade is not a true alignment in space, but rather an apparent alignment that is the result of the planets' orbital positions relative to viewpoint of Earth-bound observers lying in an arc across the sky.
Planetary parades of three, four or five planets are commonplace events, but larger planetary parades are less frequent. Because the motions of planets are predictable, the timing of planetary parades past and future can be easily calculated across long time periods.
Notable planetary parades
2025 planetary parade
Two large planetary parades occurred in 2025, aligning six and seven planets respectively. The ongoing planetary alignment is the first phase of this astronomical event in 2025, which began on and ends on . During this phaseVenus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
, Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...
, Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...
, and Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
will remain visible in the night sky.
The second phase of this astronomical event is predicted to occur on with seven planets. The planet Mercury will join with six other planets which were visible during the first phase.
2040 planetary parade
Following the 2025 parade, the next six-planet parade will not occur until 2040.See also
*Syzygy (astronomy)
In astronomy, a syzygy ( ; , expressing the sense of σύν ( "together") and ζυγ- ( "a yoke"))
is a roughly straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies in a gravitational system.
The word is often used in reference to the ...
, a real collinear configuration of three or more celestial bodies
* Conjunction (astronomy)
In astronomy, a conjunction occurs when two astronomical objects or spacecraft appear to be close to each other in the sky. This means they have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude, usually as observed from Earth.
When ...
, where two or more objects appear close together in the sky
References
Space Solar System Astronomy events {{Astronomy-stub