You'll Be Able to See 5 Planets in the Night Sky All at Once This Month

The best day to witness the next planetary alignment will be March 28.

This is a great month for space enthusiasts, and as a parting gift, March is giving sky watchers a gorgeous planetary alignment right before April swoops in.

According to astronomy app Star Walk, five planets within the solar system will be visible at the same time—a relatively rare sighting—at the end of the month. The best day to marvel at the celestial event will be Tuesday, March 28, but as Star Walk points out, the alignment will be visible several days before and after that, too.

Rather than a straight line, the planets will form an arc in the night sky, and stargazers will get the chance to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus. Some of them, though, will be more visible than others, and depending on your location, you might need some equipment to catch a glimpse of all five.

Venus will be the easiest one to spot thanks to its brightness, which flaunts a magnitude of -4.0. Jupiter (magnitude -2.1) and Mercury (magnitude -1.3) will also be pretty bright and fairly easy to see by the horizon, Star Walk reports. The game will get a little tougher when trying to spot Uranus, which will be much dimmer compared to the other planets (magnitude 5.8). According to Astronomy.com, it is advisable to use a pair of strong binoculars to try and see it, and it will be located near Venus nearly all month. Mars will be more visible (magnitude 0.9), and it will appear high in the sky surrounded by a signature orange hue.

While Jupiter and Mercury will be bright objects in the sky, due to their closeness to the horizon they might be difficult to spot if light pollution or artificial structures (e.g. buildings) obstruct the way. It is, in fact, advisable to use binoculars to try and see them, and you should consider commuting to a flat and dark location to get the best out of your space-gazing experience.

As it often goes with stargazing and celestial events, your best bet in terms of location are dark sites and low-light pollution areas. You can check where the nearest dark site is on this website, while for light pollution conditions, you can take a look at this map.

Ready to go stargazing?

Here are all the best stargazing events that you can get out and see this month or you could stay in a stream the northern lights from home. If you're just getting started, check out our guide to astronomy for beginners or easy stargazing road trips from big US cities.

Want more Thrillist? Follow us on InstagramTikTokTwitterFacebookPinterest, and YouTube.

Serena Tara is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.