Tag Archives: Alignment

Witness the Rare Alignment of 7 Planets in Tonight’s One Generation Planet Parade

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Observe the night sky tonight to witness a rare event known as the “Planet Parade,” where the planets in our solar system align in a row. This phenomenon involves Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune appearing in a straight line for a unique celestial display. This rare occurrence will not happen again until 2040.

The best time to view this spectacular event is on the evening of Friday, February 28th, 2025, when all seven planets will be visible in the sky. Astrophysicists like David Armstrong emphasize the significance of this planetary alignment and the rarity of such an occurrence.

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The alignment of planets is a result of their orbits and speeds around the sun.

To best observe this phenomenon, head outdoors just after sunset to catch a glimpse of Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. For a more detailed view, consider using binoculars or a telescope to see the distinctive features of each planet. Find a dark, remote spot away from city lights for the optimal viewing experience.

Where should I look to see the planets?

Identifying the planets in the sky can be challenging, but each has its unique brightness and position. Look for Venus in the west, the brightest object after sunset, followed by Jupiter overhead. Keep an eye out for Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, as it remains low on the horizon. The planets’ loose alignment creates a visual path across the sky, making it easier to track their movements.

Why is this planetary parade happening?

The alignment of planets is a result of their orbits in the zodiac plane, creating the illusion of alignment from Earth’s perspective. While this alignment is purely visual and does not have a significant impact on Earth, it provides a fascinating celestial display for observers to enjoy.

Meet our experts

Dr. Sham Balaji: A researcher at King’s College London, specializing in cosmic particle physics and cosmology.

Matt Burley: An astronomer and reader at the University of Leicester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

David Armstrong: An associate professor at Warwick University focusing on planet detection and the Neptinia desert.

For more information, visit their profiles.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

How to View the Alignment of Every Planet in the Solar System This Week

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Artists’ impressions of the solar system

Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski

All of our solar system planets line up in the night sky once this week. This extraordinary celestial event will see the sky scattered with seven visible planets in what is called a great planet alignment, or what is called a “planet parade.”

The eight planets in our solar system first formed from the same disc of debris around the sun, thus bringing the sun into orbit on roughly the same plane. The lines that line this plane appear along the zodiac when the sun crosses the daytime sky, as the sun crosses the daytime sky, appear all along the zodiac when the planets appear in the sky. The orbit is slightly tilted, so it’s not the perfect line of the planet, but it’s pretty close.

This is less obvious than during planetary alignment. Normally, only a few planets share the night sky, but the unusual alignment of all seven planets will be visible around a few nights, around February 28, depending on your location.

The best time to see is right after sunset, and you will have the opportunity to see all the planets arching in the sky, but all of them are near the horizon except Mars, Jupiter and Uranus. These three will continue to stroll all night, but by the time the sky is completely dark, Mercury and Saturn will sink below the horizon, and Neptune and Venus will soon follow.

The main thing that prevents such alignments from being invisible all the time is the difference in orbital periods between planets, except for the weather. Mercury closest to the Sun takes about 88 Earth days to complete its orbit, but Neptune, most of the distant planets, takes nearly 165 Earth years.

It is only possible to have a large alignment if the planets are all relatively far from the Sun, so they can be seen at night, so they are all in roughly the same half of the sky, so they can be seen at the same time. It’s a coincidence of an astonishing trajectory. Sometimes there are multiple large alignments per year, sometimes even if there are no more than one year, it can pass. A similar event is not scheduled to occur until 2040.

“It’s great to see the interest that Planet Parade is creating.” David Armstrong At the University of Warwick, UK. “It’s all great to be involved in astronomy, look up at the sky and evaluate the wonders of our solar system. I encourage anyone interested in going out and looking at the planets with their own eyes if they get the chance in the next few days.”

Additional Reports by Alex Wilkins

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Webb uncovers puzzling alignment of protostellar outflows in the Ophiuchus Nebula

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These protostellar outflows form when jets of gas from the newborn star collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds, and the objects typically point in different directions within a single region. Serpens NebulaBut like sleet falling during a storm, they all lean in the same direction and to the same degree.

This Webb image shows a collection of outflows from a line of protostars in one small region (upper left corner) of the Ophiuchus Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / K. Pontoppidan, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / J. Green, Space Telescope Science Institute.

“So how does the alignment of a stellar jets relate to the star's rotation?” said Webb.

“When interstellar gas clouds collapse to form stars, they rotate faster.”

“The only way for the gas to keep moving inward is to remove some of its spin (called angular momentum).”

“A disk of material forms around the young star, carrying material downward like a vortex around a drain.”

“The swirling magnetic fields within the inner disk cause some of the material to be ejected as twin jets, erupting outward in opposite directions, perpendicular to the disk of material.”

“In Webb's images, these jets are identified by bright red lumpy streaks, which are shock waves created when the jets collide with the surrounding gas and dust.”

“Here, the red color indicates the presence of molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide.”

“Webb will be able to image these very young stars and their outflows, which have previously been blocked at visible wavelengths of light.”

“There are several forces that can change the direction of the outflow during this period in the young star's life.”

“One way is that the binary stars rotate around each other, causing them to wobble, twisting the direction of the outflow over time.”

The Serpens Nebula is a so-called reflection nebula located about 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.

The object is estimated to be between 1 and 2 million years old, making it very young in cosmic terms.

“The Serpens Nebula contains a particularly dense cluster of protostellar clusters (approximately 100,000 years old) at the center of this image, some of which will eventually grow to the mass of the Sun,” the astronomers said.

“It's a reflection nebula, meaning it's a cloud of gas and dust that doesn't emit its own light but glows by reflecting light from nearby and internal stars.”

“Thus, throughout the field of this image, the filaments and lint of different hues represent reflected light from protostars still forming within the cloud.”

“In some areas there is dust in front of that reflection, which shows up here as a diffuse shade of orange.”

“There have been several other serendipitous discoveries in the region, including the shadow of a flapping bat, so named because 2020 data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope revealed it to be flapping, or migrating. This feature is visible in the centre of the Webb image.”

of Investigation result Published in Astrophysical Journal.

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Joel D. Green others2024. Why are (almost) all of the protostar outflows aligned with Serpens Main? ApJin press.

Source: www.sci.news