Rare 'planet parade' event to light up Irish skies tonight - here's how to spot it

A RARE PLANETARY event which involves the alignment of six planets in a row in our solar system will be visible to the naked eye in Irish skies tonight, astronomers have said.

The celestial event, also known as a ‘Planet Parade’ or the ‘great planetary alignment’, will see the sky scattered with a number of visible planets – including Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Uranus and Neptune will also be visible through a telescope.

Resident astronomer for the Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork Danielle Wilcox told RTÉ Radio’s News at One that the planets may be visible for an “entire month” in Irish skies.

“We are very lucky – we’ll have the planets in the sky basically throughout the month of February,” Wilcox said.

Most people in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to see the planets for the next four weeks.

“It’s really nice to have the planets in the sky, we don’t always have so many at one time, Wilcox said.

“This evening, will have four of the planets visible without a telescope or binoculars – you’ll have Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars all across the sky.”

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How to spot the planets

Astronomer Danielle Wilcox told RTÉ Radio that the stars will be visible from late this afternoon.

“You don’t need to be out super late to see them, you can go out just after sunset and you’ll be able to see four planets without any sort of equipment,” Wilcox said.

Planet-gazers are advised to look to the south, where four of the planets will progressively appear. Venus will be the first planet visible, and will be the “brightest object in the sky” after the sun and moon.

“Just as the sun is setting down, one of the planets you’ll be able to spot quickly will be Venus. It will be so incredibly bright, you’ll see that one before the stars even come out,” Wilcox explained.

“Following this, Saturn will appear right next to Venus in a south-west direction. Then if you turn towards the south and look slightly south-east, you’ll see Jupiter, and further east, you’ll see Mars. Once they are all visible, the planets will stretch across the southern sky from west to east”.

Wilcox added that those with telescopes at home should also be able to spot two other planets, Uranus and Neptune.

“They’re a bit farther out as they’re the edge of the solar system, so they will not be visible to the naked eye, but if you have a good telescope, you can look in the same direction to see them,” Wilcox said.

“They’ll be in the same line as the rest of the planets, but you do need to have a bit of experience with the telescope to be able to spot those two,” she added.

Wilcox went on to explain that the final planet in the solar system, Mercury (sorry Pluto) may also be visible on “particularly clear evenings”.

“We’ll hopefully get some good skies towards the end of February, because Mercury will be popping up above the horizon as well, which will give you an additional planet in the sky. It looks like around the 27th will be the best time to see Mercury,” she said.

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