Six planets aligned in the sky to still be visible from London tonight for two hours only

The alignment only happens once every 100 years
-Credit:Getty


Six planets are still aligned in London skies tonight (Sunday, January 26) and will remain so until about mid-February. So if you missed them at their peak last night, there is plenty of time to see the amazing planetary parade, though tonight they are only visible for around two hours.

This type of alignment is very rare and only happens once in every 100 years, Star Date reports. Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all making a grand planetary parade and alongside the moon that makes the seven celestial beings visible in one view. Tonight, you can see them for around two hours from 6pm until 8pm.

Luckily, the planets will remain in this parade formation until about February 17, but the time to see it will shrink gradually each night. This is because some of the planets, starting with Saturn, as it is currently the lowest in the sky in the parade, will dip below the horizon before the sun sets, so you won't be able to see them at night.

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READ MORE: Incredible photos show six planets aligned in the sky - you can see them tonight from London

READ MORE: Six planets to align in the London sky tonight for first time in 100 years

Tonight at 6pm, Mars will be high in the east, Jupiter in the southeast and Venus and Saturn close together in the southwest, BBC Sky at Night Magazine reports. Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn will all be visible with the naked eye but to see Uranus and Neptune you will need a telescope.

Even in London, with its light pollution, you will be able to see these bright planets. Astronomy expert and Educational Officer from Greenwich Observatory Jessica Lee, 30, told MyLondon: "Planets are quite a good shout for London actually. The brighter planets you can see just with your eyes and some of them are brighter than stars so they're easier to see from London than stars are to see from London."

Where exactly will these planets be?

There are lots of markers you can use to identify each planet. There is also a great app you can use to help -Credit:Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror
There are lots of markers you can use to identify each planet. There is also a great app you can use to help -Credit:Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror

There are several markers you can use to help find the planets in the sky. You can also download SkyView Lite for free for an augmented reality that layers the position of planets, constellations and other celestial beings through your phone camera. You can download it on the App Store or Google Play Store here.

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Let's start from the East and go along the line of planets that end in the Southwest and West of the sky. At 6pm, Mars is the most easterly planet in the line and will be exceptionally bright after it reaches opposition (the moment when our planets are closest in orbit) last week on Thursday, January 16. It will be high and bright and up to the left of where the famous Orion constellation, near the Gemini constellation in the East.

Because it is very high in the sky, Mars wont set below the horizon until about 7am tomorrow morning (Monday, January 27). At 8pm, when the first planet Saturn disappears from the show, it will be high in the southeast sky.

Next in the line at 6pm, you can find Jupiter above the famous constellation Orion and inside Taurus in the southeast, also quite high in the sky. Jupiter also is very high up so won't dip below the horizon until 3.50am tomorrow morning. At 8pm it will be high in the southeast.

Venus, known as the Evening Star because it is so bright, will be visible a bit lower in the southwest of the sky at 6pm and will move to the west before it dips below the horizon at 8.45pm. Right next to it will be Saturn, which is slightly lower in the southwest. Saturn will disappear below the horizon a little earlier at 8pm, the first of the planets to disappear.

For those with telescopes, Uranus is near Jupiter in the Taurus constellation, though slightly lower. It will set at about 3am. Neptune will be just behind Venus in the southwest of the sky. It will dip behind the horizon at about 9pm.

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So there appear to be two distinct groups of planets - Mars, Jupiter and Neptune further east and much higher up, and Neptune, Venus and Saturn to the southwest and much lower on the horizon.

Why are the planets aligned?

Planets formed out of a disc of gas and space dust orbiting the sun. Remnants of this disc can still be seen today in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, which is filled with dwarf planets like Pluto and other protoplanetary rocks, gas, and ice.
Planets formed out of a disc of gas and space dust orbiting the sun. Remnants of this disc can still be seen today in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, which is filled with dwarf planets like Pluto and other protoplanetary rocks, gas, and ice. -Credit:Getty

The planets are lined up because our solar system formed billions of years ago. Today, our orbit around the sun means it appears to follow an imaginary line in the sky when it rises and sets every day. This line is called the ecliptic.

This line is followed because, back in the day, our infant sun was orbited by rings of space dust and gas, a bit like how Saturn has rings surrounding it. Over billions of years, the dust coagulated and formed into the planets we know today. This was the stardust that you and I are made of.

This dust was formed into a disc, like the rings around Saturn (which are only a kilometre thick but 282,000 kilometres wide). Due to the forces of gravity that acted on them, all these planets formed roughly along the same orbital plane from the disc. Now, billions of years later, beautiful phenomena like the one this evening can be seen.

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Remnants of this disc can still be seen today in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper belt further out beyond Neptune, which is filled with protoplanets and dwarf planets like Pluto.

How rare is it for six planets to align?

The alignment of six planets only happens once every 100 years. For all eight planets to align, it would take 396 billion years and has likely never happened
The alignment of six planets only happens once every 100 years. For all eight planets to align, it would take 396 billion years and has likely never happened -Credit:Getty

This is a very rare event for six planets to align in the sky and will only happen about once every 100 years, Star Date said. All eight planets can align every 396 billion years, but this has likely never happened, How Stuff Works reported.

It would take 13.4 trillion years for all eight planets can align within 1 degree of each other - a long straight line outward from the sun like in diagrams seen of the solar system, How Stuff Works said. For context, the universe is thought to be only 13.8 billion years old.

Weather and viewing conditions

Weather is obviously a big factor in the ability to stargaze, particularly cloud cover. London is particularly overcast at the moment what with Storm Eyown and Storm Herminia rolling across the country.

This means that tonight and tomorrow night will have high cloud cover, between 88 and 93 per cent according to Accuweather. However, on Tuesday, the clouds are predicted to clear with a decent coverage of just 37 per cent, not to mention much less rain and wind.

The planets will be in roughly the same position until about February 17 anyway, so there are several chances to see them if one night does not work out. However, the viewing window does get shorter and shorter for all six planets to be visible. On February 17 itself, it will only be from about 6.30pm to 6.50pm before Saturn disappears from view.

Keep an eye on the weather before you go out to make sure you have the best chances.

Jessica gave some good general advice for those who want to spot the planetary alignment. She said: "Even if you can't go to a park or someone doesn't feel safe going to a park, you can still see stars and planets from London.

"The most important thing is to let your eyes adjust - so say you're in your own back garden, you would face away from whatever streetlight or lights from your house you can see, don't look at your phone, turn your torch off and just look at the sky for 10 to 15 minutes and the noticing stars you couldn't see before."

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