Stargazers are in for a treat as six planets and the moon align

From January 21^st to February 21^st Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will align with Earth and all will be visible in the night sky.

Saturn and Venus only recently completed the parade, but the other planets have been aligned for a month already.

Geologist Kate Earl, visiting fellow of BU and astronomy enthusiast, said: “We can always see planets at some point during the night. Not necessarily all of them but there very rarely goes by a night where you can’t see a planet, either early in the morning or maybe early in the evening. sometimes throughout the night.”

Whilst the planet phenomena is called ‘an alignment’, the planets in space are not actually in a line. They are are all at different points of their orbit in space.

But they are all on the same side of the Sun, so they appear to be in a line in our sky.

Kate said: “It’s a bit like looking at buildings in the distance on a horizon. You can’t see which ones are in front of the other ones. They’re all just going to look like they line up.”

But why do the planets appear to be in a line in our skies? The planets and the Sun all follow the ecliptic path because the Earth is tilted at 23.5° on its axis.

Kate said: “We’re looking at the planets in alignment. Everyone thinks an alignment is a straight line, but it’s actually a curve because we are seeing the planets from the Earth that has been tilted on its side.”

She added: “They form a nice arc across the sky, just like the sun forms a curved path across the sky. The planets will do exactly the same thing.”

The planets cannot stray from this ecliptic line, nor can the Sun.

Kate thinks this alignment has had so much coverage because the winter sky is ‘just so lovely in the winter’ and the planets are visible at a great time.

Mars can be seen in the east whereas Jupiter will be in the southeast and Venus and Saturn are close together in the southwest

Kate said: “Six, seven o’clock in the evening, get children out there, get everybody looking and then everyone can go back in and have some dinner.”

Kate added: “You can’t see Uranus and Neptune with your own eyes you need something like binoculars or telescopes to see them.”

Kate says you do not need to worry about light pollution to see planet, but you do with stargazing.

She said: “I can see Venus and Saturn and Jupiter just from my back garden, and then I walk out to the front garden, and I can see Jupiter and Mars.”

She advised going the coast to see stars – for example Bournemouth Clifftop or Hengistbury Head where you can block out the lights from Bournemouth.

She added: “Cranbourne Chase is actually a designated dark sky area, northwest of Bournemouth area.”

The last couple of nights were very cloudy however tonight should be clearer although still overcast so visibility will limited.

Kate also recommends the app ‘stellarium’ which is free and will allow you to stargaze whether there are clouds or not and from the comfort of your sofa.