The seven planets in our solar system will align Friday and Saturday in a phenomenon known colloquially as a “planet parade.” The parade on Friday features all five visible planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and the two planets that can’t be seen by the naked eye: Uranus and Neptune, according to NASA.
“A planet parade is when we have a whole bunch of planets stretching across the sky, just like a parade you might see here on Earth, but looking up” said Thaddeus LaCoursiere, the planetarium production coordinator at the Bell Museum.
A rare sight
Planet parades are uncommon. LaCoursiere says that at almost any given time, at least one planet can be spotted in the sky. Seeing four or five at once is an occurrence every few years, but having this many visible, is even less common.
The prime time to see the parade is 30 minutes after sunset. On Friday, sunset for the Twin Cities is around 6 p.m. so the best time to set your eyes on the sky begins around 6:30 p.m.
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After sunset, four planets become visible: Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Mercury, Venus and Saturn will be in the west. Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus can be spotted overhead.
How to spot them
LaCoursiere says to try and spot Venus first. He describes it as a “bright point of light to the west” that won’t be moving. It can be found about three fist-lengths above the horizon. It will be steady, so if you see a bright light traveling, that is most likely an airplane.
Once Venus is spotted, look down to the horizon to spot Mercury and Saturn. They are tiny points of light much harder to spot, especially since they are in line with the sun’s rays. To help you find these two, look for the the moon, which will be a crescent, and these planets will be bright spots nearby: Mercury is above the moon and Saturn is below.
Next, find Jupiter. It will be the very top of the sky, as if you were lying down and looking up. It is a big bright point. And in the southeast, you can spot a red spot that is Mars.
Uranus is near Jupiter and needs a telescope to be seen. Neptune, which you also can’t see with your naked eye, is near Mercury.
Planets are so bright that, unlike stars, you can still catch them even with light pollution. Higher vantage points and open fields are great for stargazing.
Binoculars and sky-watching apps are other tools that can help you locate the planets.
Weather outlook
In the Twin Cities, you can expect a mild Friday evening with temperatures at 34 around 6 p.m., 30 around 9 p.m. and 26 around midnight. Brace for the wind, which reached gusts as high as 55 mph at MSP Airport, but that is likely to subside.
Not much precipitation is expected, but there will be cloud cover. The cloudiest skies are predicted around 6 p.m. That will clear throughout the evening.
MPR News meteorologist Mandy Thalhuber said weather conditions are consistent across the state Friday. The temperatures will be cooler in western Minnesota, but not cold enough to affect going outside.
In Duluth, there will be more cloud coverage that will clear significantly later into the night. It will be a bit cooler at 28 degrees around 6 p.m. and 18 by midnight.
Missed it? Here’s when to catch the next one
The next opportunity to see a planet parade is in late August when four planets will be visible just before sunrise. A more complete alignment of the five planets won’t happen again until October 2028.
