At the end of March, the sky offers us an exceptional spectacle. Five planets are aligned there: Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars. This is called a planetary alignment. The phenomenon, observable from Earth, is this time rather rare. It is on the evening of March 28 that it will be most visible, especially by all amateur astronomers.
First of all, what is a planetary alignment? It is a celestial event that occurs when two or more planets in the solar system, in addition to Earth, come together closely in an area on one side of the Sun. From Earth, we then have the impression of seeing these planets aligned in the sky. At the beginning of March, an alignment had already occurred with Venus and Jupiter. But this time, the show promises to be much more rare and exceptional with five planets visible and aligned. We are talking regarding a “grand planetary alignment” here.
“In the end, it’s something relatively simple“, explains Maïté Dumont, astrophysicist at the University of Liège, that is to say that the planets all revolve around the Sun and it’s a bit like if we were all on a children’s carousel which turns at different speeds and at a certain moment, we all end up finding each other on the same side.“