January 2025 - The planets align

Have a look towards the western and northern skies this month and you'll see a line of fellow members of our Solar System strung across the horizon in the early evening sky.

This is simply an alignment of planets as seen from the ground here on Earth and they haven't moved towards each other in any significant way.

Moving from left to right, you'll see Venus and Saturn close together when it gets dark. This will be the last chance to see Saturn before it emerges in a pre-dawn sky in a few months. By then, its rings will be even more edge on and harder to see. (We'll be talking a little bit more about that later in.)

Jupiter is higher in the sky and will be visible for much of the night. Apart from the Moon, it will be the bright thing in the evening once Venus sets and looks like the lighting on a incoming airliner flight - except you'll notice after a while it's not moving. 

Mars will also be rising and is coming into the best time to view the red planet until its next opposition in 2027.

You'll notice in the chart that the outer ice giant, the planet Uranus, is listed. This won't be visible to you eyes, although you should be able to see it in pair of binoculars. The other ice giant, Neptune, appears close to Venus and would be quite difficult to spot. 

Mercury is lost in the Sun's glare and would be below the horizon as it starts to get dark. 

Do I need a telescope to view these planets?

Not really. You should be able to see all of these bright planets with you eyes and they'll all be bright compared to the background stars. However, once you spot them, they'd be well worth checking out with in binoculars and telescopes of any size will show more. 

Is there a certain time or day I need to view this line up?

This is generated by Stellarium for the 25th of January 2025 around 9.15pm local time. If you'd like to generate your own chart for your location, visit their site here.

However it will be visible in the days before and after this date, so no rush.

Cheers,

Earl White 

BINTEL 3rd January 2025