63 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: the 6 planets aligning!
I'll be the pedant tonight: they are not aligned, just visible in the sky at the same time. Mars, the Earth, Venus and Mercury will be vaguely aligned in a few weeks, Jupiter is a bit behind and Saturn is like 75° behind Jupiter in its orbit.
If by "aligned" people mean they're in a line, the planets are always aligned since their planes are roughly on the ecliptic.
These is nothing special to see besides bright points in the sky if you don't have viewing equipments (binoculars are nice enough)
Comment by theanedditor at 25/01/2025 at 01:04 UTC
23 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I thank you for your pedantry. Every couple years or so there's some sensationalist BS about a planetary alignment of some kind and it's all utter tosh.
Comment by calinet6 at 25/01/2025 at 03:59 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Still cool. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the mood to look at some planets, and pull out the star chart app, and only one planet is visible... it's kinda cool to try to hit 6 in one night.
But I would never call it an "alignment." Kinda over-sells it IMO.
Comment by lavenderyuzu at 25/01/2025 at 16:22 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
well isnt it still exciting to see bright points lol. isnt it rare to see them visibly being in the same line even if theyre just ‘bright points’?