Central New York Has a Front Row Seat to Extremely Rare Planetary Alignment

Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies on Friday night because one of the rarest celestial events is happening.

It's called a parade of planets. This happens when three or more planets become viewable in the night sky. The more planets involved, the rarer the happenstance.

Throughout January, Central New York enjoyed another rare occurence: A month-long planetary alignment of Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.  There were even nights when Uranus and Neptune joined the fun.

Now, something even more incredible will take over the skies on the last night of February. This event also won't happen again until 2040, so you don't want to miss it.

On Friday night, February 28, all seven planets will be visible in the sky.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will all be visible either to the naked eye or with the help of a telescope.

Those that everyone can spot will be Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. Meanwhile, Mercury and Saturn will appear only on the horizon, so they may be a little dim, but still noticeable.

You will need a set of binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus and Neptune. The latter may be the most difficult to spot since it will appear closest to where the sun sets and will likely dip below the horizon after total darkness.

It's advised to those who want to do some planet spotting to head out to an area that isn't polluted by city lights and allows you to see stretches of uncluttered horizon.

If you do manage to spot all seven on Friday, you will be among the rare few because even the most respected space experts say it'll be a true challenge. But, if you don't want to wait until 2040 to catch the spectacle again, then you know where to be on Friday night.

Also, for those demanding justice for Pluto - give it a rest. It was declassified as a planet in 2006 - nearly 20 years ago. There are kids in college who never experienced life when there were 9 planets in the solar system.

And just know the above paragraph was painful for me to write. Guess there is some veracity behind the statement "Truth hurts.'

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