Parade of planets visible tonight for Long Islanders and other earthlings
Illustration of a planetary alignment, or a planetary parade. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo/Buradaki / Alamy Stock Photo
Long Island stargazers have the chance to see a celestial parade in the sky, as all seven of Earth’s planetary neighbors will be (technically) visible among the stars on Friday night.
As planets whirl around the sun at different speeds — Mercury orbits the sun every 88 days, while Jupiter makes a revolution roughly every 4,333 days — they occasionally align to our perspective from Earth.
"What happens is at certain times they end up in a section of the sky where they’re all visible at the same time," said Ken Spencer, president of the Astronomical Society of Long Island.
Beginning around sunset, Saturn will be situated closest to the horizon, followed by Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars higher in the sky. While Neptune and Uranus also are within Earth’s line of sight, they’ll require binoculars or a telescope and are extremely difficult to locate, astronomers say.
Because of their closeness to the horizon, Saturn and Mercury might be difficult to spot, especially with some clouds in the forecast for Friday and Saturday. Clearly seeing the western horizon offers the best chance to see their faint light between 6 p.m. and 6:15 p.m., said Dr. Stephen Lawrence, professor of physics and astronomy at Hofstra University.
Mercury and Saturn will be the brightest starlike objects near or below the moon tonight, Lawrence said.
Above the moon, Venus will be "unmistakable," according to Spencer, and the brightest of the planets in the sky. Even under streetlights, it should be clearly visible, he said.
"It’s absolutely gorgeous and stunning," Spencer said.
Jupiter can be seen looking south at sunset and will also be bright, according to Spencer, and the pinkish-red Mars will be visible to the naked eye.
The visibility of the surrounding planets is not particularly rare, astronomers said.
"This is not a particularly dramatically rare event," Lawrence said. "Just half the time it happens in the morning, so very few people see it."
