6 planets currently visible in the evening sky

Provided.

During late January and into February, six planets are moving in their orbits into our southern sky, visible each evening. This type of event is not rare, though often misunderstood.

Popular media is typically dominated by erroneous cartoons and sensationalized "mysterious" significance. The graphic I'm sharing shows the true nature of this alignment. From our view it appears that the planets are in a line across the sky. They are always on this "line" which is a circle around the Earth - the plane of the solar system. Since the planets move at different speeds in their orbits, they are usually spread out more around the plane ... that imaginary circle. But this predictable event occurs when their motions happen to cause them to be in the same part of the sky for a few weeks.

The top image shows their actual positions and relative distances in the solar system. In the bottom image, as we look across the sky from east to west, our view can't determine their distances near and far from us, so some appear relatively close to each other. The top-down view is not at all a "line."

The order this season is Mars, Jupiter Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Venus, and the Sun as it sets. Mercury happens to appear early morning on the other side of the Sun. Uranus and Neptune are visible through good binoculars and telescopes.

If you're interested in learning more about the night sky, the BVS Astronomy Club has monthly meetings at the BV Country Club, and public telescope viewing at Cub Lake on the Saturday nearest First Quarter Moon. See you there! (NOTE: orbit distances and planet sizes are not to scale...it would not all fit on this image!)