February’s ‘rare planetary alignment’ is coming — here’s what to expect from the planet parade

Is “planet parade” the latest buzzword in skywatching? Supermoons, shooting stars “lighting up the night sky,” and “ring of fire” eclipses have been popular in recent years. Now, step forward the prospect of a planetary alignment, apparently more than enough to get mainstream audiences looking up.

It was difficult to get away from the so-called “planet parades” in early 2025, when Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus and Saturn were in the night sky simultaneously — though only four of them were visible.

Cue February 2025, which looks set to bring just as much in the way of hype about so-called rare planetary alignments. With Mars swapped out for Mercury, this time it’s even harder to see.

February 2026’s ‘planet parade’

Saturday, Feb. 28, is the date being promoted for seeing six planets in the evening sky. “On Feb. 28, we will see not one, not two, but six planets in the evening sky,” writes Alyssa Lee on the space agency’s “Watch the Skies” blog. “Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter will appear shortly after sunset.”

Unfortunately, “see” is doing a lot of work here.

To have any chance at all, you’ll need:

• An unobstructed view due west
• Clear skies
• About half anhour after sunset on Saturday, Feb. 28
• Binoculars, a telescope — and most likely, a healthy dose of imagination.

Dissecting the ‘planet parade’

The main issue with seeing all six planets is that four of them are already close to the sun and will only be visible for a short time — if at all — in bright twilight. Venus and Mercury will be closest to the horizon during twilight, followed by Saturn and Neptune, with Uranus and Jupiter much higher in the sky. In practice, seeing more than three planets will likely be a challenge.

Venus and Mercury

The inner planets, shining at magnitudes -3.8 and 0.3, respectively, will likely require binoculars. Mercury will actually be easier to see earlier in the month; it’s highest in the post-sunset sky on Feb. 19-20. However, at that time, Venus will be lower in the sky, so harder to see — which is why Feb. 28 offers something of a balance.

Saturn and Neptune

Now slowly moving towards the sun’s glare (its solar conjunction is on Mar. 25), Saturn is well past its best and now shines at magnitude 1. It’s visible to the naked eye; however, unlike nearby Neptune, which at magnitude 8 will require a small telescope to see.

Uranus

Midway between the cluster of four planets in the southwest and Jupiter high in the south, Uranus will hang just beneath the Pleiades (M45) open cluster on Feb. 28. Shining at magnitude 5.7, it should be possible to pick it out in a pair of stargazing binoculars.

Jupiter

Now past its best, having reached opposition on Jan. 10, the solar system‘s giant planet is now shining at magnitude -2.3, about four times less bright than Venus’ intrinsic brightness. However, Jupiter will be by far the easiest planet to see.

Moon and M44

Though likely overlooked by most observers of the “planet parade,” the 92%-illuminated waxing gibbous moon will be high in the eastern sky, below Jupiter. Those with binoculars may glimpse the Beehive Cluster (M44), one of the brightest star clusters, just below it.

Watching the ‘planet parade’ build

Instead of limiting yourself to one night, Saturday, Feb. 28 — which is both limiting and, for slow-moving planets, frankly rather meaningless — observe the planets throughout February:

• Sunday, Feb. 8: Venus becomes visible for the first time after so long out of the evening sky — though finding it in the west just after sunset will be challenging.
• Thursday, Feb. 19: See a 7%-illuminated waxing crescent moon in the west-southwest close to Saturn, just above Mercury at its greatest eastern elongation from the sun (about 10 degrees above the horizon 45 minutes after sunset from mid-northern latitudes). As a bonus, Saturn and the moon will be about four degrees apart.
• Friday, Feb. 20: Mercury will be highest in the post-sunset sky of its current apparition, with Saturn and a 14%-illuminated waxing crescent moon above.
• Thursday, Feb. 26: Jupiter and a 77%-waxing gibbous moon will be about four degrees apart.

The ‘planet parade’ everyone missed

Mid-January 2026 saw a rare triple superior conjunction of Venus, Mars and Mercury — but nobody saw it. That’s because it occurred not only on the opposite side of the solar system, but very close to the sun, with only solar observatories able to pick out the three planets in our star’s glare.

Venus, Mars and Mercury were at superior solar conjunction (when a planet crosses the far side of the sun to Earth) on Jan. 6, Jan. 9 and Jan. 21, respectively. Images came from coronographs on the ESA-NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the GOES-19 weather satellite — the latter also featuring the new moon.

The planets in 2026

Although this “planet parade” will quickly fade, prospects for planet-watchers in 2026 are excellent. Mars is transiting from the evening to the morning sky and will become visible again before sunrise in April. More impressively, Venus is rising into the post-sunset sky and by late-March will establish itself as a super-bright “Evening Star,” shining at magnitude -3.8 — the third brightest object after the sun and moon, and much brighter than Jupiter. Venus will be highest in the sky in August and brightest in late September, though arguably the planetary highlight of 2026 comes on Jun. 9 when Venus and Jupiter will be in a close conjunction in the evening sky, with Mercury just below.