(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who bundle up to brave the evening chill will be able to see a relatively rare event in the January night sky, what some are calling the Parade of Planets.
Allison Jaynes, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Iowa, says Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all shifting into near-alignment, and two more planets will join the celestial conga line later this month.
From January 21st through the 25th, all six planets will be visible, though you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus and Neptune. They will not be in a tight, straight line, as some graphics depict, but they will be in the same region of the sky. Jaynes suggests using a smartphone app, like Stellarium, to orient yourself among the stars.
