Science - Technology

6 planets line up in the sky tonight

VN (synthesis) January 21, 2025 06:52

Observers in the northern hemisphere can see Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn appearing together in the sky.

6 hành tinh
Six planets including Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn will appear together in the night sky on January 21. Photo:STAR WALK

The year 2025 kicks off with an exciting event for astronomy enthusiasts – a planetary conjunction. A planetary conjunction, or planetary parade, occurs when multiple planets in the solar system can be seen simultaneously in the night sky.

On January 21, six planets will appear together: Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn. Astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere will still be able to see these six planets for about four weeks. While Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn can be seen with the naked eye, they will need a powerful telescope to see Neptune and Uranus.

This alignment is not quite as neat as it appears in diagrams and illustrations of the solar system. That doesn't happen in the real universe. However, the planets would appear to line up in an imaginary line.

This happens because every planet in the solar system orbits the Sun in a plane called the ecliptic. Some planets have orbits that are tilted slightly above or below this plane, but they all lie roughly at the same level, like the grooves on a vinyl record, because of the way stars like the Sun form.

Initially, the "baby" star forms in a cloud of material that begins to rotate. The cloud swirls into a flat disk, feeding the young star around its equator. Planets form from what's left of the disk and, unless otherwise affected by gravity, continue to orbit the star in that plane.

Sometimes, as they orbit, the planets will be on the same side of the Sun and people can see them in the sky at the same time. This phenomenon will occur in the sky on the night of January 21.

The next interesting astronomical event takes place on the night of February 28, when up to 7 planets appear in the sky at the same time, including Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars.

VN (synthesis)
(0) Comments
Latest News
6 planets line up in the sky tonight