Carnival of the planets after mid-January

Arab Weather - Dr. Ammar Al-Sakaji, head of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, said that the skies of Jordan and the world are witnessing a beautiful observational phenomenon, which is the " Planetary Parade ", where a group of six planets appear beautifully on one side of the sun at the same time, and move towards the west along the zodiac so that they can be seen or observed after 7:30 pm every day, starting from the middle of January for about four weeks. Note that the zodiac is the apparent path of the sun in the sky.

How to see the Carnival of Planets?

Four of these planets can be seen with the naked eye: Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. While we need optical instruments (such as a telescope or binoculars) to see Uranus and Neptune, this is in the case of the availability of the standard astronomical conditions for observation, which are clear skies and the absence of clouds, dust, and light pollution.

After sunset, we start looking at the eastern horizon, where the red planet Mars shines in the constellation Gemini, followed by the bright planet Jupiter a little higher in the sky in the constellation Taurus. The Pleiades and Aldebaran can also be seen if the standard conditions for observation are met. Uranus will be in the constellation Aries near the border with the constellation Taurus, and we need optical instruments to observe it. If we look at the western horizon, we can observe Neptune in the constellation Pisces, but we also need optical instruments. Saturn and Venus (the icon of beauty or the bright evening star) will be in the constellation Aquarius, and we can see them with the naked eye if the appropriate observation conditions are available.

A "parade of planets" (carnival of planets) means the presence of planets in the sky in a procession for a period of time that allows us to see or observe them at the same time during their usual path through the zodiac.

The phenomenon of " planetary alignments " is that the planets line up in a straight line almost behind each other. The mathematical condition for the planets to line up is that they all have the same "right ascendant angle" or almost the same "eclipsing longitude angle", and this is only achieved in very rare cases.

See also:

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