2025 is starting off with a bang for skygazers, with a planet parade now visible in the night sky. A planet parade is when several of our solar system’s planets are visible in the night sky at the same time. There will be six planets visible this time around, including Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
The six planets are visible now, and will remain so until late February. Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible to the naked eye. You’ll need a high-powered viewing device like a telescope to spot Neptune and Uranus.
The best time to view the planets from the Northern Hemisphere will be just after sunset at around 8:30 p.m. local time. You still might be able to catch Venus, Saturn and Neptune on the horizon after that, but all three planets will be under the horizon by 11:30 p.m. to midnight depending on your location. After that, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will remain visible for a few more hours with Mars finally setting just before sunrise.
Unlike prior parades, this one is set to last quite a while since the planets are in advantageous spots in the sky. You should be able to see all six planets nightly until the last week or so of February.
After that, a seven-planet parade will begin as Mercury will briefly join the others in the sky for a couple of days, turning this into a planetary parade of all seven planets in our solar system other than Earth. It will be difficult to see them all since Saturn, Mercury and Neptune will be quite close to the sun right at sunset, but they will be there.
By the time March gets underway, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune will have drifted too close to the sun to be readily visible with Venus not far behind, leaving Jupiter, Mars and Uranus to populate the night sky until the next parade begins.
Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus will be in the southeastern sky while Neptune, Venus, and Saturn will occupy the southwestern sky at approximately 9:30 p.m. local time.
