Six planets line up in the sky this month and you can see them

Glittering stars in the night sky are always a majestic sight that can stop you in your tracks.

But this month six planets grace the sky in what's known as a planetary parade, and most can be seen with the naked eye.

Planetary parades happen when several planets appear to line up in the night sky at once.

Here at the National Space Centre in Leicester the parade is exciting news as they seek to educate the public.

Dhara Patel is a space expert at the National Space Centre and previously worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

She says: "So a planetary parade people might often think of as planets lining up in the sky, or more so in space. So when we see pictures from NASA or in textbooks, they're often drawn side by side. When we talk about a planetary parade as something you can see in the sky it's that the planets appear in a roughly line-like position across the sky."

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

Using marbles and a sheet of paper, Patel demonstrates the particular alignments of the current planetary parade.

"So we have the sun at the centre of our solar system, and then we know that planets orbit around it. And here's our Earth. And from the Earth, when we look towards the more western part of the sky after sunset, probably around 6 or 7:00pm, we'll see planets like Venus, Saturn and even Neptune that may be visible. But if we look towards the other part of the sky at roughly the same time, too, we'll see Jupiter and Uranus and then Mars even further over to the east," she says.

The National Space Centre opened in 2001 and has been educating people of all ages for nearly 25 years.

There are lots of exhibits detailing all of the planets in our solar system.

During this month's parade, Mars shines especially bright because it's located directly opposite the sun. And on Friday and Saturday night, skygazers will see Venus and Saturn snuggle up extra close — just two degrees apart.

To get in on the planetary hangout, go outside on a clear night a few hours after sunset between 7:00 and 8:30 p.m. and face south.

Venus and Saturn will glow in the southwestern sky, with Jupiter to the south and Mars to the southeast.

"So what's awesome about trying to look for planets in the sky is that actually quite a few of them are visible to the naked eye. So you don't need any tools, no binoculars or telescopes. So if you want to look for the naked eye planets, as we call them, then Venus and Saturn over in the western part of the sky, they'll be visible to the eye. And then you should be able to spot Jupiter and Mars further over to the east. Venus and Jupiter typically are the brightest ones," says Patel.

Even if you live in an urban area with light pollution, the parade should still be visible just after sunset because planets typically appear brighter in the sky - in fact, Patel says it might even be easier to spot for amateur skygazers.

The astronomical linkup is fairly common and can happen a few times a year depending on the number of planets.

A similar parade took place last June but only two planets were visible to the naked eye.

Hannah Sparkes, from the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature says: "Planetary alignments that are minor, like two to three planets happen very often, especially with the inner planets. They can happen every few months. But when you get out to the gas giants, since they're very far out there, have bigger orbits moving a little bit slower, those occur about every few decades, I'd say, but they persist for a long period of time. So about every 20 years we have an alignment between Jupiter and Saturn, and it'll persist for quite a bit of time, a few decades in itself. So I'd say those 4 to 6 planet alignments can be frequent but it depends on kind of where you are in its cycle."

Phone apps like Sky Map and Stellarium Mobile can help with where to look.

The parade is visible now and will continue into mid-February so the day is less critical than the time of night, according to Kevin Williams, the director of the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium.

He says: "In terms of days, the day doesn't matter as much as the time. Like you said, it's visible now but once we get into mid February or so, it's going to start to be more difficult to see Saturn and Venus because they're going to be lower in the western sky, soon after sunset. So we'll start to lose them in the brightness of sunset."

Mercury is set to join the parade at the end of next month, and the planets will slowly make their exit through the spring.