Rare alignment of seven planets is taking over the night sky this Friday as Mercury joins planet parade

Stargazers will be treated to a rare alignment of seven planets in the night sky on February 28 as Mercury joins Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in a planetary parade. 

Six planets – Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – are currently visible in the night sky, and they will be joined by Mercury at around 9pm on Friday, forming a rare seven-planet alignment. The parade will last for around four hours.

It's not every day (or night) where you can see all seven other planets of our solar system, with this planetary parade occurring approximately once every 77 years and promises to be a spectacular sight.

According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the celestial arrangement occurs due to the planets’ orbits around the Sun aligning along a flat plane known as the ecliptic. While the planets may appear in a neat row, this is an optical illusion - they do not actually line up in three-dimensional space.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Space Museum said only Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter would be visible with the naked eye, with the others difficult to spot this Friday night.