Seven planets will be briefly “visible” in the evening sky Friday night, but the best chance to see as many as four planets with the naked eye — Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars — will be just after sunset in the south and southwest sky.
Two of the others — Uranus and Neptune — are so faint they will only be visible with binoculars or a telescope, and Saturn might be visible to the naked eye only very briefly before it disappears beneath the horizon.
The only opportunity to glimpse all seven of the planets is in the few minutes after sunset, though brighter Mars, Jupiter, and Venus will be visible to the naked eye and higher in the sky in the few hours after sunset.
Also, city dwellers and those nearer urban locations with light pollution will be less likely to see the fainter planets.
This “planetary parade” is a rare occurrence and won’t happen again until 2040.
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