Overview
- Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are forecast to appear in the same region of the sky in a rare, visually compact grouping.
- Visibility will span several days around late February, with the optimal hour shifting by location, including evening viewing about an hour after sunset in some cities and pre-dawn in others.
- Starwalk’s projections cite differing angular spreads by city, such as about 175° for Mexico City on February 28, 128° for São Paulo on February 25, and 152° for New York on February 28.
- Observers are advised to seek a clear eastern or southeastern horizon, avoid light pollution, and use binoculars or a telescope for the fainter planets, with livestreams planned from observatories and planetariums.
- Experts emphasize the planets will not form a perfect line in space and that such alignments pose no hazard, as only the Sun and Moon exert significant gravitational effects on Earth.