Watching Six Planets Gather in the Sky in 2026

This weekend gives skywatchers a special chance to see the night sky. If the weather is clear, you will be able to see six planets gathered together in the evening. These planets will appear in the same part of the sky just after the sun goes down. This event is often called a planetary parade or a planetary alignment.

Four of these planets—Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter—can be seen with just your eyes. You do not need any tools to find them. To see the other two planets, Uranus and Neptune, you will likely need to use binoculars or a telescope. For people living in the United Kingdom, Sunday evening is expected to be the best time to watch. To get the best view, find a place where you can see the western horizon without any buildings or trees blocking your view.

A planetary parade happens when many planets seem to line up from our point of view on Earth. Dr. Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist who helps explain this event. She says the planets "will be in a straight line, but it's a straight line on a curved sky." This looks like a line because all the planets orbit the Sun in the same flat area. Scientists call this area the ecliptic plane.

To understand this better, Dr. Smethurst gives a simple example. "If you think about taking a ball of pizza dough and setting it spinning above your head, it flattens out," she said. "That is what happened to the gas cloud around the Sun that ended up forming the planets. That is why they are all in the same flat plane." From Earth, all objects in our solar system follow a similar path across the sky. It is important to remember that the planets are not perfectly lined up in their own orbits. Instead, they are currently all located on the same side of the solar system.

To find these planets, look toward the western sky shortly after sunset. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Neptune will look close to the ground. They will be low in the sky near the horizon. If you do not have binoculars or a telescope, you can try to contact a local astronomy club. Many clubs hold public events where they have equipment you can use.

Choosing the right place to watch is very important. A spot with a clear, low horizon is the best choice. This is especially true for Mercury and Venus because they are very close to the horizon line.

Higher up in the sky, you will find Uranus. It is located in the constellation Taurus. Uranus will not set until around midnight. This gives people with telescopes a long time to watch it. Jupiter will be the easiest planet to find of all six. It will shine very bright in the constellation Gemini. It will be high enough in the sky to be seen for most of the night. Its brightness is so strong that you might even be able to see it from cities with a lot of lights.

Getty ImagesAccording to the Star Walk app, the planets will appear most closely grouped on 28 February, though the exact date depends on your location.

According to data from the Star Walk astronomy application, the planets will appear most tightly grouped on February 28. However, the best date for viewing changes depending on where you live. For example, the best date is February 25 in São Paulo. In cities like Athens, New York, Mexico City, and Tokyo, the best date is February 28. In Beijing, Berlin, London, and Mumbai, the best day is March 1. In Reykjavik, the peak is expected on March 2.

"A planetary alignment like this can be particularly exciting," said Jess Lee, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. "It gives you the opportunity to see various worlds during one evening."

Seeing six planets gathered in the sky is not something that happens every day. However, it is also not an event that is very rare. A full alignment that includes all seven classical planets, leaving out Earth, is a much less frequent event. One such seven-planet parade happened in February 2025. It will be many years before a similar event can be seen again.

Dr. Smethurst says that a good stargazing experience depends on how you prepare, not just what you look at. The first important step is letting your eyes get used to the dark. This helps you see faint objects in the night sky better. She suggests starting this process inside your house. "I like waiting sort of in the warm of my kitchen for five or 10 minutes in the dark before I step out," she said. This practice allows you to "immediately see even the faint things in the night sky straight away."

Being comfortable is also very important. Instead of craning your neck up to look, Dr. Smethurst suggests "laying down a picnic blanket on the ground or sitting in some sort of lounge chair." She also tells observers to "wrap up warm because if you're not moving, it gets very cold."

Once your eyes are used to the dark, stay away from bright white lights. These lights will ruin your night vision. If you need to use a smartphone app to help find the planets, turn on the red-light mode. "The red light won't affect your night vision as much as a bright white light would," Dr. Smethurst explained.

Do not worry if you miss the exact peak date of the alignment. Several of the planets will stay visible in the evening sky for several days after. "We will have lost Mercury in early March," Dr. Smethurst noted. "But on March 7 and March 8, Venus and Saturn are going to be very close together in the sky. This will make it easier to spot both of them."

The weather forecast for the viewing weekend in the UK is changing. The conditions might be different each night. On Friday night, the clearest skies are expected in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Other places will have mostly cloudy weather with some rain in parts of England and Wales.

On Saturday night, the pattern will likely switch. England and Wales might have clear skies early in the evening. However, clouds are expected to move in from the west later on. For the main viewing time on Sunday night, clear skies are predicted to be very limited. They will mostly be in eastern and southern parts of England.

You can check the latest weather for your area using the BBC Weather app or website. This article includes extra weather reports from BBC Weather presenters Simon King and Chris Fawkes.