An Opportunity to Watch the Alignment of the Planets in the Solar System

In the hours before dawn on the 14th and 15th of Khordad this year, the planets of the solar system will align in the sky before sunrise, providing a great excuse for sky enthusiasts to watch the heavens. It doesn't matter how still you sit; you are moving at an incredible speed. Our planet, Earth, along with you and everything on this globe, is moving at a speed of 107,000 kilometers per hour or about 30 kilometers per second around the sun. But this is not our only movement; the sun, along with Earth, is also moving rapidly around the center of the galaxy. The sun, however, is more agile than Earth, traveling at a speed of 828,000 kilometers per hour, or about 230 kilometers per second around the galaxy's center, and combining these two movements, Earth travels 835,000 kilometers in space every hour. New discovery by scientists: Earth is inside a massive cosmic tunnel. It is still too early to get dizzy because our galaxy, along with our sun and Earth, is moving through intergalactic space at a speed of over two million kilometers per hour, and of course, this is not all the movements we experience at any moment. In such an active and vibrant world, it is natural to witness various breathtaking scenes from these space travels. Let's return to our solar system, where Earth and seven other planets are orbiting our mother star at different speeds. Each of the planets in the solar system, which are now stable in their orbits, are rotating around this star under the influence of the sun's gravity. Simple Newtonian physics equations, including Kepler's planetary motion equations, state that planets closer to the sun (regardless of their mass) orbit the sun at a higher speed. This is why the planets of the solar system are in different positions relative to each other in the sky at any moment. If we could place a telescope at a very distant height above the North Pole of the sun, the view of the celestial dance of the planets would be visible from an overhead perspective. However, although we do not have such a telescope, we can calculate the position of each of them in the sky and around the sun using simple mathematical calculations, and thus visualize their status. The changing positions of the planets around the sun occasionally create stunning views in the sky for us on Earth. Sometimes these different orbital positions allow us to see two or more planets in the sky close together, which is called conjunction, and if the number of planets is more than two, we refer to it as a planetary gathering. Sometimes, these positions allow us to observe a significant number of planets at one time in the sky; a phenomenon known as planetary alignment. Why do planets appear almost in a line in the sky? Unveiling distant beauties, new images from the James Webb telescope. If you look at the solar system, you will see that all the planets orbit the sun in orbits that are almost on one plane. This plane (a plane in space with the sun at its center and Earth's orbit around it determining part of its surface) is called the ecliptic plane. Most of the large planets in the solar system, after their formation and after passing their infancy and reaching gravitational equilibrium, have stabilized near this plane due to the resultant of gravitational forces. Now, if instead of looking from above, we come down to Earth and look at the sky and the path of the planets' movement, as well as the apparent movement of the sun around the Earth, we see that they are all moving in a narrow band in the sky known as the zodiac. This is why when several of them appear in the sky at the same time, we can observe them aligned along the zodiac. On the mornings of the 14th and 15th of Khordad, the planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will all be visible in the morning sky. The only absentee from this planetary gathering is Venus, which, instead, the crescent moon tries to fill its place and join this gathering. Although on the mornings of the 14th and 15th of Khordad, these planets are not close enough to be called a gathering, all the planets (except Venus) will be aligned in the morning sky, and you can see them all at once or at least take a moment to look up at the sky. Perhaps seeing several planets due to twilight or dimness may require skill, but what better excuse to watch the sky on a dawn in late spring.