There's still time to see the 'planet parade' that began in January: Here's what's visible

On any given night, it's likely that knowledgeable stargazers will be able to spot at least one bright planet shining in the night sky.

Planets like Mars and Jupiter are big enough and orbit close enough to Earth that seeing them from the ground without the aid of telescopes isn't all that noteworthy. But when four, or even five, planets show up in the sky, stargazers are in for a real treat.

Because they don't happen every year, such cosmic displays tend to attract significant public interest and a frenzy of media coverage denoting them as "planet parades" or "planetary alignments."

But what's really going on when planets unveil themselves in our skies?

Turns out, what we see as alignments aren't that special. What is special, though, is seeing so many planets at once.

Here's what to know about February's so-called planetary parade, including how and where to see it.

Planet parades: Planetary alignments aren’t rare, but 6 visible planets are

Will the planets align in February?

Four planets will be widely visible to the naked eye through part of February, but referring to the cosmic display as a "planetary alignment" may not be entirely accurate.

The planets in our solar system orbit the sun essentially along a line across the sky in a plane called the ecliptic.

For that reason, planets in our Earthly sky always appear somewhere along a flat, disc-shaped plane, according to EarthSky, a website dedicated to cosmic news. These events, while commonplace, are often referred to as planetary alignments.

The ecliptic is also the reason that we on Earth sometimes observe planets appearing to approach closely to each other in the sky "while they careen around the cosmic racetrack," according to NASA.

"We see the racetrack of the planets from the perspective of one of the racers ourselves," Preston Dyches, who hosts NASA's "What's Up," a monthly video series that describes what's happening in the night sky, wrote for NASA. "When viewed edge-on, this disc appears as a line."

While alignments themselves aren't special, it is rare to have an opportunity to observe multiple planets simultaneously without the need for instruments like ground telescopes. Such an event is commonly known as a "planet parade," though NASA noted that the moniker is not a technical astronomical term.

What is a planet parade, and what will be visible in February?

Planet parades are how astronomers and stargazers refer to the events when the planets form a straight line and look like they're marching across the night sky. The phenomenon took place in June and then most recently again in January, when four bright planets and two faint planets were visible all month in the night sky.

Those same four planets remain widely visible in the night sky through much of February:

• Venus

• Mars

• Jupiter

• Saturn

Uranus and Neptune will also be around, but they won't be appearing as brightly and will require a telescope to see, according to NASA.

Why planet parades are special

Visible parades of four or five planets only occur every few years, making the cosmic events ones not to be missed for stargazers.

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are frequently seen in the night sky. But because Venus and Mercury orbit closer to the sun than Earth, with smaller, faster orbits, it's more rare for them to make an appearance, according to NASA.

Venus is visible for only a few months at a time when it reaches its greatest separation from the sun. Mercury, which takes 88 days to orbit the sun, is visible for only a few weeks, or even days, at a time.

"While they aren’t once-in-a-lifetime events, planetary parades afford an uncommon opportunity to look up and appreciate our place in our solar system," Dyches wrote for NASA, "with diverse worlds arrayed across the sky before our very eyes."

How and when to see the planetary parade

Planet parades must be observed during twilight between dawn and sunset so a glowing sky does not obscure the view.

The four-planet lineup that began in January will conclude by mid-to-late February, as Saturn sinks increasingly lower in the sky each night after sunset, according to NASA. While Mercury will briefly join Saturn later in February in the post-sunset glow, both planets will be too low and faint for most observers to spot.

One other planetary lineup to see in 2025

Stargazers have one more opportunity in 2025 to catch a multi-planet lineup, according to NASA, when four planets become visible before sunrise in late August.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Planet parade' is still visible this February: Here's what's visible