An exceptional astronomical phenomenon will take place from February 28, since all the planets of the solar system will be visible, at the same time, in the night sky.
An event not to be missed. Since the middle of January, six planets of the solar system have been visible at the same time in the Earth’s sky. A phenomenon called “planetary alignment”, since Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will be located on the same line in the sky.
This phenomenon is due to the positioning of the planets on the ecliptic plane. Schematically, we must imagine the solar system as a disk. The Sun is located at its center, and all the planets placed on this disk rotate around it, at different speeds and distances.
A very rare event
For example, Mercury completes one trip around the Sun, called a complete revolution, in just 88 days, compared to 365 days for Earth, 10,759 days (nearly 30 Earth years) for Saturn or 60,190 days for Neptune, approximately 165 years. terrestrial.
-Thus, the eight planets are often very far from each other. But sometimes they cluster in smaller areas of the solar system, close to Earth. It is therefore common to observe the simultaneous presence of several planets in the sky. But on the evening of February 28, there will be seven, since Mercury will join the other six. An event that will not happen again before May 19, 2161.
The majority of planets will be easily observable with the naked eye moving away from city lights and if the weather permits. To admire Uranus and Neptune, however, you will need to equip yourself with binoculars or a small telescope. Several applications like StarWalk can provide valuable help in identifying them.
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