Seven Planets Align in Rare February Sky Event

A rare alignment of seven planets—Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Mercury—will be visible in the night sky on February 28. This "planetary parade" offers a spectacle for stargazers and has implications for scientific observation. Planetary alignments are useful for scientific observations, particularly in terms of solar system exploration. In 1977, NASA launched the twin Voyager spacecraft to visit all four planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Astronomers also use alignments to investigate many aspects of the Universe, especially in the discovery and study of exoplanets. In 2024, Nick Tusay used these alignments to search for any communication being sent between the worlds of the Trappist-1 system.