A rare astronomical opportunity awaits those gazing skywards tonight as all seven other planets in our solar system are on parade.
This once-in-a-generation occurrence is a must-see for night sky observers.
The seven will appear to be in alignment from sunset for those who look to the horizon and up.
Some can be spotted with the naked eye, while others will require a telescope or binoculars.
All are worth catching while you can, the next time this will happen for those of us watching from Earth is 2040.
A planetary parade is not technically an astronomical term and planetary alignment can mean several different things within this branch of science.
However, in this instance the alignment refers to planets appearing in a line or arc across the night sky.
We see them like this because they all move around our Sun in a flat, disc-shaped orbit known as an elliptical plane.
Planet Earth is also doing this.
So viewing the other planets in our solar system from Earth is like watching cars on a racetrack when you are in one of the cars.
According to Nasa, on most nights observers will be able to spot at least one planet in the sky, two or three planets are often visible around sunset and occasionally four or five can be seen simultaneously with the naked eye, although this won’t happen every year.
The next four planet alignment will be in late August this year just before sunrise.
Seeing all seven, though, is more rare.
As Nasa states: “While they aren’t once-in-a-lifetime events, planetary parades afford an uncommon opportunity to look up and appreciate our place in our solar system.”
There are eight planets in our Solar System including our own:
From Earth, all seven other planets in our system will be visible in the night sky at the same time on Friday 28 February.
Although the most distant, Uranus and Neptune, will only be spotted with the aid of a telescope or binoculars.
Planetary parades are not usually single-day events because the planets move so slowly alignments can last for weeks.
The Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London has pointed out that from late January until now there has been a “great view of six planets – Saturn, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars – scattered across the sky in the hours after sunset”.
Between 18 and 21 January, Saturn and Venus were close to one another in the sky, slowly swapping places in the planetary parade.
And Saturn, Venus and Jupiter were easily visible as bright white points of light and Mars as an orange dot.
Uranus and Neptune required a telescope to be seen.
But Friday 28 February is when Mercury joins the parade, so all seven planets can be seen in the night sky at once.
There is a word of warning, though, Saturn and Neptune will be tricky to spot as they will be very low on the southwestern horizon after sunset.
Key to planet spotting is cloudless skies and a lack of light pollution.
City dwellers may need to find somewhere beyond the urban environment to get good views.
A telescope or binoculars will be needed to catch sight of Uranus and Neptune.
The best time to start stargazing is just around sunset tonight, between 5.45 and 6pm (GMT), when all of them, except Mars, Jupiter and Uranus, will be close to the horizon.
The latter should be visible for much of the night, while Mercury and Saturn will disappear below the horizon as soon as it is dark and Neptune and Venus will follow shortly afterwards.
Dr Matt Burleigh, from Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, told BBC Science Focus: “Venus is in the west, shining as the brightest object in the sky after sunset.
“Jupiter is directly overhead, the next brightest.
“And if you look a bit east of Jupiter, you’ll spot Mars with its distinct red glow.”
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