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7 planets are aligned in the night sky right now. But what's that mean for science?

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In January 2025 , Venus , Mars , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune were all visible in the night sky.

In February , 2025 , Mercury will join the fun, with all seven of our planetary neighbors visible from Earth .

A planetary alignment occurs "when the planets 'line up' on the same side of the sun, generally speaking," says Gerard van Belle .

New Horizons spacecraft got a gravity assist from Jupiter to speed it towards Pluto.

Voyager 1 and 2 took advantage of an alignment of the large planets, with Voyager 2 getting boosts from Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune .

In her free time, Stefanie Waldek can find her watching rocket launches or looking up at the stars, wondering what is out there.