Tomorrow, March 28, 2023, will be remembered as a significant night because, after sunset, we will all be able to witness a rare alignment of five planets—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus—in an arc shape.
TIME
This alignment is visible to Indians from 6:36 to 7:15 p.m.
Even though we may view this alignment from March 25 to March 30, it will also be visible to the naked eye tomorrow. They will resemble necklace pearls.
PLANETARY ALIGNMENT
Meaning
When several planets gather closely on the same side of the Sun at once, this phenomenon is referred to in astronomy as a planetary alignment.
In the broadest sense, the term “planetary parade” refers to a night when several planets are visible in the sky.
The planets orbit the Sun in various orbits, at various angles, and in various ways.
When it occurs
A planetary alignment occurs when all of the planets in the solar system are in roughly the same area of the sky as the Earth.
Effect on Earth
Planetary alignments have no effect on the Earth. They are not the cause of earthquakes.
Volcanoes are not caused by them. The moon has a significant impact because it is the primary cause of tides.
ALIGNED PLANETS
MERCURY
👉Mercury is the smallest and closest planet to the Sun in the Solar System.
👉Its orbit around the Sun is the shortest of all the Sun’s planets, taking 87.97 Earth days.
Missions
NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft Mercury and Venus Flypast Mission (1973)
MESSENGER – NASA’s Mercury Orbiter (2004)
BepiColombo – ESA/JAXA Mercury Orbiter Mission (2018)
VENUS
👉Venus is the planet closest to the Sun.
👉It is sometimes referred to as Earth’s “sister” or “twin” planet because it is nearly as large and has a similar composition to Earth.
👉Venus is unique in that it rotates in the opposite direction as Earth and most other planets.
👉It takes 225 Earth days to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Missions
Shukrayaan I, ISRO’s Venus mission, was scheduled to launch in December 2024.
The concept was born in 2012, and five years later, ISRO began preliminary research after the Department of Space received a 23% increase in the 2017-2018 budget.
MARS
👉Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the Solar System’s second-smallest planet, larger only than Mercury.
👉It takes 687 Earth days to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Missions
On November 5, 2013, India’s first interplanetary mission to Mars, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), was launched aboard PSLV-C25.
ISRO has become the fourth space agency to successfully launch a spacecraft into orbit around Mars.
Despite having a mission life of 6 months, MOM will have been in orbit for 7 years on September 24, 2021.
JUPITER
👉Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and the fifth planet from the Sun.
👉 It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, and a mass slightly less than one-thousandth that of the Sun.
👉It takes 12 Earth years to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Missions
Juno – NASA’s Jupiter Orbiter (2011)
Cassini is a NASA/ESA mission that travels from Jupiter to Saturn (1997)
Ulysses is a NASA/ESA mission that will study the solar wind from Jupiter (1990)
NASA’s Galileo Orbiter Mission to Jupiter (1989)
NASA’s Galileo Probe Mission to Jupiter (1989)
NASA’s Voyager 1 mission to Jupiter and Saturn (1977)
Voyager 2 is a NASA mission that will travel to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and beyond (1977)
NASA’s Pioneer 11 flypast of Jupiter (1973)
NASA Jupiter flypast Pioneer 10 (1972)
URANUS
👉Uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system.
👉Uranus has the Solar System’s third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass.
👉It takes 84 Earth years to complete its orbit around the Sun.
Missions
Voyager 2 is a NASA mission that will travel to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and beyond.