In mid-January, you’ll see four bright planets in one sweeping view.
By Bob Berman | Almanac
There’s been a lot of hype in the news about a great planetary alignment in January 2025. Here are the facts, which are pretty cool anyway. It won’t be a magical lineup, but it WILL be an amazing planetary display you won’t want to miss. It’s truly the best overall planet view in years. Here’s more information.
The 8 Planets
First, here’s a quick review. Of the eight planets in our Solar System, there are five “bright planets” you can see with the naked eye (no gear) and only four planets that you can easily see without any problem. The fifth one, Mercury, is always near the Sun and never visible against a lovely dark sky, nor is it ever high up.
- Half of the four brilliant planets—Venus and Jupiter—are always dazzling.
- Saturn is always bright but not eye-catching.
- Mars varies its luminosity so much that it’s usually no more conspicuous than dozens of actual stars—nothing that would catch your eye.
Then there’s the realtor’s old, repetitious melody about “location, location, location.” If a planet is bright but doesn’t rise until 5 AM, how many will bother to set an alarm to take a look? Or if the planet is so low that trees and distant hills block it, it doesn’t make our must-see list, no matter how bright it gets.
A sky chart showing the four bright planets. Start looking mid-January! | Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltch
An Amazing Planet Display in January
That’s why the present planet spectacle is so unusual. Of course, much of the talk on the web and even in print is getting it wrong. Many are calling it a “lineup of planets.” In actuality, two of them are on one side of the sky (lowish in the west) while the others hover in exactly the opposite direction in the east. Not remotely a line. But it doesn’t matter. You can handle this just fine; we’re here to make it easy.
The date and time are important.
Start with Thursday. January 16 at 6:30 in the evening. If it’s cloudy, don’t worry; you’ll get several rain dates, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Read more here.