Rare 7-planet parade happens this week. Here’s how you can see it

Skygazers have something to look forward to Friday, as the seven other planets in our solar system will be visible, with a little help, in a rare event. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will all be visible without any optical assistance, according to NASA. To catch Neptune and Uranus, you’ll need the help of a telescope. ON 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF PLUTO DISCOVERY, ITS HOME OBSERVATORY CELEBRATES SOLAR SYSTEM’S UNDERDOGThis event is known as an alignment. The planets are always actually lined up, but we just can’t see them all at once. The planets are always in a line called an ecliptic – the plane where they orbit the Sun. As the planets race around the Sun at different speeds, sometimes they line up on the same side of the Sun, appearing closely together in the night sky.The best time to see the planets will be shortly after sunset on Friday.WHY CHANCES OF ASTEROID 2024 YR4 HITTING EARTH JUST DROPPED BY MORE THAN HALFPlanetary parades aren’t necessarily rare on their own, but the addition of Mercury and Venus makes the lineups more exciting, as they orbit closer to the Sun than Earth and can be hard to see, NASA said. Combinations of neighboring seven planets have been visible throughout January and February as well. In August 2025, another alignment will happen when four planets will be visible at once before the Sun rises.