Some of the brightest planets in the night sky are visible right now, with six of them forming a 'planet parade' across the night sky for at least the next month.

Just after sunset tonight, look to the southern sky.

Towards the east, you can find red Mars, having just last week reached its closest distance to Earth, as well as pulling off a 'vanishing act' with the Full Wolf Moon. To the southeast will be Jupiter, shining as the brightest object in that sector of the sky. Meanwhile, shift your gaze to the southwest to spy Venus, glowing even brighter than Jupiter, with Saturn located nearby.

For the casual observer, those four planets will be the only members of the 'parade' visible. However, anyone with a good pair of binoculars, or a small backyard telescope, should scan the sky between Jupiter and Venus for the other two participants.

Six planets line up on January 21, with Uranus and Neptune visible only with binoculars or a telescope. The small dots for these two planets have been magnified 150x in this night sky simulation. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)

In the vicinity of Jupiter, the next brightest object will be the red giant star Aldebaran, found just 'below' or 'south' of the planet, while just a bit to the west and up/north, you can find The Pleiades star cluster. Adjust your aim to the west of Jupiter, following a path about midway between Aldebaran and The Pleiades, and you may spot the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus.

For the final member of the parade, centre bright Venus in your field of view, and then slowly pan back to the east towards Jupiter. A short distance along that path, you may see Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun.

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This entire six-planet parade will be visible starting on the night of January 21, but that is not the only opportunity to catch it strung across the sky.

The same relative configuration of planets can be seen on any night, for a short time after sunset, over at least the next month. Each night, the alignment will shift slightly farther to the west. However, Venus will slip to the east, opening up a wider gap between it and Saturn, and switching places with Neptune in the line-up.

The 'planet parade' on both February 21 (top) and February 27 (bottom), with Saturn being swapped with Neptune in the lineup. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)

Then, by late February, Saturn will already have set in the west by the time the sky is dark enough to see the parade. However, it will be replaced in the line-up by Mercury in the last days of the month.

Throughout the first week of March, night by night, we can watch Mercury climb higher in the western sky, while the Waxing Crescent Moon tracks its way across the parade towards the east.

As the month of March progresses, the continued western shift of the parade will mean that we lose Neptune to the evening twilight. Eventually, Mercury and Venus will follow it, leaving only Jupiter and Mars shining in the night by the end of the month, while you can still find Uranus with binoculars or a telescope.

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Although these planets are lined up across the sky, their apparent alignment is simply due to the configuration of our solar system.

Due to the way in which our Sun formed, and how the solar system coalesced around it, all the major planets ended up orbiting around the Sun in a disk called 'the ecliptic plane'.

So, any time there are a number of planets visible in our night sky all at once (it works best with three or more), they will appear to be in alignment along an arc from east to west.

The true arrangement of the planets in the solar system on Jan. 21, 2025. (NASA's Eyes on the Solar System)

However, as shown above, if you look at the solar system from the outside, the alignment disappears.

For more about what we can see in the night sky this winter, including a mid-March total lunar eclipse, check out our night-sky guide to Winter 2024-2025.