Astronomer Dean Regas gives us the lowdown on the best things to look out for this winter, from a “planet parade” to the ATLAS comet.

January started out with a meteor shower and now has a planetary alignment in store. Here's what you'll be able to see and when to catch the event.

Because planets always appear in a line, the alignment isn't anything out of the norm. What's less common is seeing so many bright planets at once.

Skies over South Carolina kick off 2025 with a planet parade, ancient comet and the muse of "Beyond Antares," a 23rd-century love song from "Star Trek" fame.

Coined the ‘parade of planets’, the special celestial event will occur just after sunset and will see six planets — Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn — aligning in the sky. The official astronomical term is planetary alignment, which describes the event when several planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time.

How many planets are there? As with the discovery of Uranus, the answer depends on who you ask. Detail from Joseph Wright of Derby’s A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on an Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in the Place of the Sun, 1766. Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Public Domain.

The night sky is putting on a celestial show with a dazzling "planetary parade" featuring six major planets and a bonus comet.

The planet parade refers to when planets form a relatively straight line across the night sky. While they aren’t exactly in a straight line, and are, in reality, millions of kilometres apart in space, they appear relatively close from Earth. Each planetary parade can involve up to all the planets. In January 2025, the planet parade will involve:

Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are visible this month in a 'planetary parade'. Dr Becky Smethurst at the University of Oxford explains what to look out for

A new study, currently under review for publication, suggests that an ancient cosmic visitor might have significantly altered the orbits of our solar system's giant planets. Scientists propose that this interstellar object,

Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will appear to line up and be bright enough to see with the naked eye in the first few hours after dark. This weekend, Venus and Saturn get especially cozy.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are visible to the naked eye this month and for part of February. Uranus and Neptune can be spotted with binoculars and telescopes.