The spectacular “7 planet parade” that will be seen in heaven this week for the last time until 2040

This phenomenon, known as “planetary parade”, is a rare show. It will be the last time that seven planets can be seen simultaneously, with a unique perspective, until 2040.

The best opportunity to see the greatest possible number of planets will be just after the sunset on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Four of the planets -Mercurio, Venus, Jupiter and Mars- will be visible to the naked eye. Saturn will be more difficult to see because he will be a bit low on the horizon. And to see Uranus and Neptune, experts say it is necessary to use a telescope.

How to have the best perspective?

Locate in a place with a wide view of the horizon, having a clear sky, is the best to see the seven planets.

And you have to be very attentive, because the moment to see them will be very short.

According to Dr. Edward Bloomer, astronomer of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich (United Kingdom), this is “A rare opportunity to have seven planets essentially in a convenient place to find them.”

“You really only have a few minutes after the sunset to see them before they fall below the horizon. Then, you can still clearly see Venus, Jupiter and Mars for much longer,” Bloomer explains.

When the sun puts, Saturn and Mercury also hide, which makes their sighting especially difficult.

Venus and Jupiter will be the easiest to see due to their brightness, while Mars will have a clear reddish tone.

“Uranus is technically visible to the naked eye, but a perfect view and ideal conditions are needed,” explains Bloomer.

This year we have already had impressive sightings of the planets, such as January, in which Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus could be seen in an alignment. But this week is the best to see the set of seven planets.

To increase the possibilities of seeing as many planets as possible, Dr. Bloomer advises to address a place with a clear view of the horizon, where light pollution is minimal.

Upon reaching a point without artificial light, it is necessary to spend time to get used to natural lighting. “Take your time: the eyes take half an hour to adapt completely,” says Bloomer.

“Avoid looking your cell phone, get comfortable and make sure you have a clear view of the horizon.”

Although it is an exciting opportunity, Bloomer encourages people to get used to contemplating the night sky.

“Look how things change,” he recommended. Observing the sky is “an opportunity to witness the continuous mechanics of the solar system in operation.”

What is a planetary alignment?

Actually, it is not uncommon for several planets to look together in the night sky.

Nor is it rare to see the planets formed in a “line” through heaven. This is an imaginary line of the apparent trajectory of the sun over a year, known as “ecliptic”.

The ecliptic is due to the fact that the Earth and all the other planets of the Solar System were formed from the same flat gas and dust disk that once surrounded our sun in its childhood.

This means that all the planets of the Solar System occupy approximately the same orbital plane (including the Earth) and, therefore, everyone follows more or less the line of the ecliptic in the sky.

The different speeds to which the planets orbit means that sometimes several of them can be aligned approximately on the same side of the sun.

From the earth, if the orbits are aligned correctly, we can see several planets in our night sky at the same time.

That is why the so -called “planetary alignments” or “planetary parades” are really inevitable.

The usefulness of planetary alignments

As noted by the journalist of spatial and scientific affairs of the BBC, Jonathan O’Callaghan, the planetary alignments can have an impact on life on the earth, particularly in terms of the exploration of the solar system.

“Reaching the outer planets with a spacecraft is difficult because these worlds are far away, billions of kilometers, and decades would be needed to get there,” says O’Callaghan.

“However, Using the gravitational attraction of a well -located planet, such as Jupiter, to launch a spacecraft outward can drastically reduce travel timesomething that no spacecraft has done better than NASA’s Voyager ships, ”he adds.

Planet alignments have been used to investigate many different aspects of the universe, such as the discovery and study of exoplanets, the worlds that orbit around stars other than the sun.

And there are also some more novel uses, such as investigating the existence of extraterrestrial life in solar systems where exoplanets pass one in front of the other from our point of view.