March has been a delight for stargazers, with some spectacular celestial events happening this month. The Venus-Jupiter conjunction, the Worm Moon, and the March Equinox have been fascinating to watch, but they have only served to whet our appetite for the grand finale, which is yet to come.
On the evening of March 28, five planets – Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, and Venus – will align and appear closer to each other from Earth, creating an arc in the sky. Venus and Jupiter have already been close to each other in the past few weeks, and Mars will also be visible to the naked eye. However, you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus, and you will need to be in a dark area with a clear horizon to see Mercury.
The planets will appear in a specific order, with Jupiter and Mercury closer to the horizon, followed by Mars next to the moon. Venus will be nearby, and Uranus will appear above the moon as a “greenish star.”
This planetary parade will be visible from anywhere on Earth, but those in the Northern Hemisphere will have a better view, and India may get a stunning view of the event. While it’s not unusual to have two or three planets aligning, the conjunction of five planets is less common, and the last time this occurred was in 2022.
Last year, stargazers in the northern hemisphere had the opportunity to observe Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn simultaneously. However, these events differ from astronomical alignments, where planets come together simultaneously on the same side of the Sun.
