JAKARTA – Anyone who looked at the sky on Wednesday night (12/28/2022) may have caught a glimpse of an impressive sight: All the planets in our solar system are clearly visible.
The phenomenon, also known as “Parade planet“- allows people to see planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiterand Saturn with the naked eye.
Those with a telescope or binoculars can also see planets far from Earth, such as Uranus and Neptune.
“The opportunity to see an entire planetary family at a glance doesn’t come often,” said Dr. Gianluca Masi, an astronomer working with the Virtual Telescope Project, told the Daily Mail.
“We only have a few days to see this parade first Mercury they disappeared in the glare of the sun,” Masi added.
According to Fox Weather, Parade planet will be visible until Thursday (29/12/2022) evening.
As Sky & Telescope notes, on “December 21, the seven planets (and the Moon) will cover (146 degrees of celestial arc). This narrows to (135 degrees of arc) by the end of the year, around the time Mercury exit the stage”.
After sunset, the planets will appear in the southern sky in descending order MarsUranus, JupiterNeptune, Saturn, Mercuryand Venusaccording to CBS News.
A clear sky is necessary to see the planets properly.
“People would have to look south about 30-45 minutes after dark to capture Mercury and Venus before they get too close to the horizon to observe,” Vahé Peroomian, a professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Southern California, told CBS News.
“Jupiter, Saturnand Mars it will be visible after dark, from southeast to east,” Perroomian added.
It’s not the first time that several planets have been observed at the same time of year. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiterand Saturn displayed in the sky in that order last June – a rare alignment not seen since December 2004 and not seen again until 2040.
Most impressive, however, is that Uranus and Neptune were also visible close together in the sky Wednesday night.
He told CBS that Neptune and Uranus orbit the sun for about 165 and 84 years, respectively. As a result, the two planets often “spend a significant amount of time on opposite sides of the Sun from our perspective.”
Because Uranus orbits much faster than Neptune, he said, “it would have been impossible to see both planets in the night sky at the same time for decades.”
