Planetary alignment January 2025

[The Gauge]

Seems this month is the time to see six planets aligned for the first time in 400yrs.
I've read the ideal time is 2hrs after dark, so assuming a clear sky I'll be sat out in my garden early Saturday evening with my binos

[Some Gump]

Thanks mate! Love events like this. Once in 400 years is a pretty sobering - last time you could see this, it was before the british civil war, the world was totally different - hell, it's very likely your dad had never used a flushing toilet (unless you were very posh).

Watch it be cloudy tomorrow!

[The Gauge]

I've read that we need to look south west.

Personally I don't know one star from another so won't know what to look for, so I'm seeing of there are any apps that might help me out.

[Some Gump]

Skyview lite - free and the kids love it

[The Gauge]

Tim Peakes

https://x.com/astro_timpeake

[thebraketester]

Mars has been very visible recently. It’s noticeably a different colour to everything else in the sky.

[Eric Mc]

Be aware that Uranus is very, very faint and invisible to the naked eye to most people. And Neptune is even fainter. Both planerts were discovered in "modern" times - 1781 and 1846 respectively - using telescopes and fancy maths as well in the case of Neptune.

But you definitely can see Venus (the brightest object in the sky apart from the sun and moon), Jupiter and Mars.

[Juanco20]

I could see Mars and Jupiter clearly last night until the cloud came over. Amazing how red Mars appears compared to the other planets and stars. Venus is always very visible and bright.

If you look South East you will see Mars furthest left, then Jupiter and then Venus and Saturn close together.

As I was looking last night there were quite a few satellites passing over which I assume was Starlink

[Eric Mc]

Juanco20 said:

As I was looking last night there were quite a few satellites passing over which I assume was Starlink

Might be but there are plenty of other satellites up there too.

[brake fader]

i shall try to observe if it's clear.

[craigthecoupe]

Just popped outside and saw mars, venus, and saturn. will try again later or tomorrow. Very cool, thanks for the post! The app is excellent too, my daughter will love that.

[595Heaven]

The Gauge said:

I've read that we need to look south west.

Personally I don't know one star from another so won't know what to look for, so I'm seeing of there are any apps that might help me out.

Night Sky (iOS) is very good and free

[Juanco20]

craigthecoupe said:

Just popped outside and saw mars, venus, and saturn. will try again later or tomorrow. Very cool, thanks for the post! The app is excellent too, my daughter will love that.

Should be able to see Jupiter. Just look slightly right of Mars and higher in the sky. It's very bright

[softtop]

Juanco20 said:

As I was looking last night there were quite a few satellites passing over which I assume was Starlink

Other satellites are available

[softtop]

Juanco20 said:

Should be able to see Jupiter. Just look slightly right of Mars and higher in the sky. It's very bright

I bet that the images from a camera would be quite poor. Do the stars detract and make it harder to spot them?

[The Gauge]

595Heaven said:

Night Sky (iOS) is very good and free

That's the one I'm using, it a pretty fantastic app. I've aded the six planets to be marked on the screen and have switched to 'outdoor blending' which uses the phone camera so that as you hold up your phone is sees what you see with the planets labeled .

Is there a way of getting rid of the constellations, as they detract from what I want to see?

[FourWheelDrift]

It foretold the coming of the anti-Christ, whether that's Trump or Musk it's yet to be known.

[The Gauge]

Had a decent view of the sky up here in S.Yorks earlier tonight, but has clouded over now

Edited by The Gauge on Friday 24th January 20:35

[RizzoTheRat]

We're away for the weekend on the outskirts of a national park so not much light pollution.... and is cloudy and raining

[skeeterm5]

There is another, with 7 planets, on the 28th February.