Six planets are aligned in the sky this month: Here’s how to watch from the UAE

Six planets have aligned in the sky above the UAE, with the rare celestial event to be visible to the naked eye until early February.

Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars lined up across the night sky this month. Uranus and Neptune are also part of the remarkable alignment, but will not be visible to the naked eye.

The alignment takes place when planets gather closely together in a small section of the sky, from our perspective on Earth.

How to watch the planetary alignment from the UAE

"These planets are visible with the naked eye and telescopes," said Khadijah Ahmed, operations manager at the Dubai Astronomy Group. "Venus and Saturn set quite early at around 8pm [GST] and then 7.30pm as the month progresses, but the rest of the planets are visible late into the night."

She added that Venus and Jupiter were most noticeable "due to their size and components".

The group is to host a sold-out event in Al Qudra on January 25 and 26, in which 800 space enthusiasts will observe the planetary parade. Another event is being held on February 1, with tickets priced at Dh150 for adults and Dh120 for children ($40 and $32, respectively).

What is a planetary alignment?

A planetary parade is usually popular among the public, as Earth's neighbours put on a celestial show. Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said such events allow people to look "clear across the solar system".

"Now, these events are sometimes called 'alignments' of the planets, and while it’s true that they will appear more or less along a line across the sky, that’s what planets always do," it said on its website.

The line is called the ecliptic, which represents the plane of the solar system in which the planets orbit around the Sun. "This is, incidentally, why we sometimes observe planets appearing to approach closely to each other on the sky, as we view them along a line while they careen around the cosmic racetrack," the JPL said.