When astronomers use words like “planet alignment,” they don’t mean a literal sequence. Last time, in April 2000, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Venus appeared above the western horizon in this orientation. In India, the conjunction should be visible between 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM. It is important to point out that the orientation of the planet during a planet parade should not be taken literally.
The probability that Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also within this arc at a given pass is 1 in 100, raised to the fifth power, so that the eight planets line up on average every 396 billion years.
When was the last time all planets aligned?
Although these planet orientations have no effect on Earth, they can provide interesting nights for stargazers who know what to look out for. Conversely, when planets are in the same part of the sky from the Earth’s point of view, they are not necessarily aligned from the Sun’s standpoint. There have been many ridiculous claims over the years about planet alignment—such as that they cause earthquakes or that they allow people on Earth to be weightless for a short time. A triple conjunction is actually when two planets pass close to each other three times in a short period of time.
Will the planets align in 2021?
The planets will appear shortly after sunset, while the moon takes a short sky tour through the three planets. An impressive cosmic crowd will welcome sky observers around the globe, while four worlds accumulate in the southeastern morning sky. In these views of ecliptic north, arrows (thinner if south of the ecliptic plane) are the paths of the four inner planets. Stargazers are pampered when Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus align to offer a unique view of the night sky and the peaks of the Geminid meteor shower, all in the same week.
There
will be a close encounter between the innermost planet of the solar system, Little Mercury, and the fourth planet from the Sun, reddish Mars. This breathtaking event, also known as the annular solar eclipse, occurs when the moon, sun, and earth are aligned in such a way that the lunar disc is too small to cover the entire sun and leaves a ring of light around the dark moon silhouette.
