Rare Planetary Parade Captivates Stargazers in 2025

A rare celestial event, known as the 'planetary parade,' is captivating stargazers worldwide in January 2025, where six planets—Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—align visibly in the night sky. This alignment, visible to the naked eye except for Uranus and Neptune which require telescopes, will be best observed shortly after sunset until late February. Venus and Saturn will appear particularly close in a conjunction on January 17 and 18. The event is a visual treat, occurring when the planets appear in a line due to their orbits aligning from Earth's perspective, although they remain vast distances apart. Experts recommend viewing from dark locations away from city lights for optimal visibility. Such multi-planet alignments are not frequent, with the next major event not expected until 2040.