Planetary parade
multiple planets aligned close together in the sky
In astronomy, a planetary parade, also known as a planetary alignment or planetary procession, occurs when multiple planets in the Solar System are visible at the same time from Earth. However, a planetary parade is not a true alignment in space, but rather an apparent alignment that is the result of the planets' orbital positions relative to viewpoint of Earth-bound observers lying in an arc across the sky.
Planetary parades of three, four or five planets are commonplace events, but larger planetary parades are less frequent. Because the motions of planets are predictable, the timing of planetary parades past and future can be easily calculated across long time periods.
Notable planetary parades
2025 planetary parade
Two large planetary parades occurred in 2025, aligning six and seven planets respectively.
The ongoing planetary alignment is the first phase of this astronomical event in 2025, which began on 21 January and ended on 21 February 2025. During this phase Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn were visible in the night sky.
The second phase of this astronomical event was predicted to occur on 28 February 2025 with seven planets. The planet Mercury joined with six other planets which were visible during the first phase.
2040 planetary parade
Following the 2025 parade, the next six-planet parade will not occur until 2040.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Planetary parade” as multiple planets aligned close together in the sky. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as multiple planets aligned close together in the sky. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q112710247. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025 and 2040.
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This entry incorporates text from “Planetary parade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.