Planet Parade: All 7 planets can be seen in the night sky this week. (Orlando Sentinel)

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Planet Parade: All 7 planets can be seen in the night sky this week

All seven planets will be visible in the night sky on Feb. 28 and can be seen from Orlando. Uranus and Neptune require a telescope to be viewed. This photo, taken by Derek Demeter in the pre-dawn hours near sunrise, shows the last time the planetary alignment happened in 2022 as seen from a location near Dunedin. (Courtesy Derek Demeter)

By PATRICK CONNOLLY | pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

UPDATED: February 26, 2025 at 3:34 PM EST

All seven planets will be visible in the night sky on Feb. 28 and can be seen from Orlando. Uranus and Neptune require a telescope to be viewed. This photo, taken by Derek Demeter in the pre-dawn hours near sunrise, shows the last time the planetary alignment happened in 2022 as seen from a location near Dunedin. (Courtesy Derek Demeter)

If you were to take a trip above the solar system and see it from a bird’s eye view, you’ll see the sun in the center. The Earth is the third planet. All of the planets will appear to be on our side of the sun,” he said. “On a normal given night, we might only see two or three. It’s a much more rare opportunity to see all of them in the sky at once.”

The planets, from our perspective, will appear as if all in a line in the sky. While people at home can witness this phenomenon, it helps to have a telescope for a few of the planets that can’t be seen as easily.

There are only five visible planets in the sky — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The other planets, Uranus and Neptune, are not visible to the naked eye,” Demeter said. “Technically, the amount that you can see with just your eyes in the sky is only five. In order to get those other two, you would have to use a telescope to see that.”

Derek Demeter, planetarium director stands inside the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College. (Orlando Sentinel file)

Demeter encouraged visitors to show up early for the event for the best chance to see all of the planets at once.

“What we’re going to do is look at Mercury, Venus and Saturday first around 7 p.m. Then we’re going to take a look at the other planets that are much higher in the sky. So there is a limitation on Mercury and Saturn because they’re getting really low in the sky right now,” he said. “We have a very small window of around 20 to 30 minutes of a window between 7-7:30 p.m. to catch Mercury and Saturn.”

While the event is weather-dependent, Friday’s forecast predicts partly cloudy skies. Demeter said with conditions that are partly cloudy or clearer, “We will be out here.”

Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.