Six planets will be visible in a planetary parade tonight

Six planets, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune will be visible along a sweeping curve in the sky tonight. While alignments occur periodically — the last six-planet one was in January 2025, followed by a four-planet display in August — this one provides an opportunity to spot multiple in a single view.

Planetary parades happen when several planets appear simultaneously in the sky, forming a loose arc rather than a precise straight line. The planets orbit the Sun on a shared plane, which, from Earth’s perspective, appears as a visible path.

The celestial spectacle can be ideally sighted tonight, 30 minutes after the sunset.

According to NASA, smaller groupings of three to five planets occur fairly regularly but a parade of six planet altogether is quite rare.

This alignment won’t last together because each planet moves at its own speed, so the lineup changes quickly.

Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter should be visible to the naked eye, but Uranus and Neptune will likely require binoculars or a telescope.