Planet parade tonight: As cosmic spectacle unfolds, here is how you can watch

New Delhi: March 28 will be nothing sort of visual delight for thousands of stargazers & space enthusiasts as a cosmic alignment will happen tonight with movement of 5 planets namely Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Uranus.
These five planets will align themselves in a rare arc form tonight, thus allowing people to see the space extravaganza with bare eyes while it unfolds in the sky.

Besides the rare cosmic event, what makes the night special is that these planets will be visible from Earth. One can see Venus, planet closest to Earth and also Jupiter, largest planet of Solar system together.

Days ago, in a rare conjunction, Jupiter & Venus came together in a line allowing space-watchers to capture the moment in camera. Less than a week ago, ‘brightest planet’ Venus hid behind the Moon & created another spectacle. Office-goers could be seen taking snaps of the cosmic event while returning from work to home.

Can you see ‘Planet Parade’ in India?

All the planets aligning together tonight will be visible all across the country, given the fact that weather conditions are good. Venus along with Moon will look the brightest while Mars & Jupiter will look dim, owing to distance from Earth.

One could see planets namely Venus, Mars & Jupiter with the naked eye but for Uranus, you will require a pair of binoculars/telescope as it is the farthest situated planet, estimated to be 3.05 billion kms away.

Time when you watch them in sky

With the planet parade occuring today, one can watch the rare spectacle manifest in Space, after the Sunset. The planets would be visible in the sky after 7:30 i.e. soon after the sunset. A little later, you can also see Venus, Moon, Mars & Uranus as they move forming a rare alignment in space.

Though they will be visible, this doesn’t mean that they will come closer to each other. While revolving in their orbits, their positioning will appear such that they will look in one line but in reality they will be millions of kilometers apart.

These planets will be most clear & clearly visible on Tuesday. They will continue to hover in similar position till the end of this month, however that will subsequently taper down with time.