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‘JANUARY IS AN INCREDIBLE MONTH FOR SKYWATCHERS’, SAYS NASA Six planets in our Solar System will be visible tonight (Thursday, January 23) in France - four of which can be seen with the

naked eye - in a rare ‘planets aligning’ phenomenon set to last until January 25. The planets have been ‘aligning’ since January 21, and, weather permitting, will be visible to stargazers

this evening until Saturday, January 25. The planets involved will be: * Venus * Mars * Jupiter * Saturn * Uranus * Neptune  The first four will be visible to the naked eye, while Neptune

and Uranus will only be visible with specialist equipment. US space agency NASA mentioned the line up in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying: “January is an incredible month for

skywatchers, with multi-planet viewing opportunities.” > Cozy up for a planet parade! >  > January is an incredible month for skywatchers, with multi-planet > viewing 

opportunities, Mars in opposition, and the Quadrantid meteor > shower in the Northern Hemisphere. Take a look at what the night sky > has to offer this month. 

pic.twitter.com/TsRop2djyA > — NASA (@NASA) January 3, 2025 Specialist website Futura Sciences said that while it is not “really rare, nor really common” that several planets are on the

same side of our Sun at the same time (making them visible in the sky), the real rarity with this phenomenon - called the ‘Great Alignment’ - is that it involves nearly all of the planets of

our Solar System. WILL THE PLANETS REALLY ‘LINE UP’? No, the planets will not truly be ‘aligned’ in a perfect straight line. Instead, they will all appear to be closer in space than usual,

on the same ‘plane’. This is what makes them seem aligned to us on Earth.  This same phenomenon is also what gives us the impression that the Sun and Moon seem to follow the same ‘ecliptic’

path in the sky. Thierry Lamouline, president of the Parc du Cosmos at Les Angles, said that rather than a real alignment, the event is more of a “planetary parade”. “It's rare enough

to be fun to watch,” he told Ici Vaucluse. A genuine alignment would be “virtually impossible”, said Mr Lamouline. He also added that it would be “absolutely unspectacular from Earth, [as we

wouldn’t be able to see it]”.  He said that the last time a real alignment of this kind happened was in the year 950, and the next time it will happen will be in the year 2800. HOW TO SEE

THE SHOW FROM HOME If the weather allows, four of the planets will be visible without any specialist equipment (see the list above). For the best views, it is always advised to leave the

city and avoid light pollution as much as possible. You can also use binoculars to get a better look.  Venus and Saturn should be visible if you look southwest, while Jupiter will be

overhead, and Mars will be further east. Even in the city, however, the best views will become visible from after 22:00 and even towards midnight, when many large public lighting displays

are switched off, and the sky becomes darker.