Night sky to display a planetary parade, eclipse
The Boston Globe • • science
Key Points:
- Jupiter’s opposition, when it is directly opposite the sun in the sky, will make the planet exceptionally bright with a magnitude of -2.7, visible without binoculars as it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.
- A rare planetary alignment will occur in late February, featuring six planets—Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Venus, and Mercury—with four visible to the naked eye and the others requiring binoculars or a small telescope.
- A total lunar eclipse will take place on March 3, visible mainly in the western half of the United States and parts of the Pacific, where the moon will appear reddish, known as a “blood moon,” during the eclipse near the horizon.
- Venus recently reached its “super conjunction
