In an event I thought only existed in the minds of supervillains or fantasy prophecies, the planets have aligned in the sky—time to manifest.
The truth is that “planetary alignment” is an optical illusion because Astrology nerds can’t have anything. But, just because it’s an illusion doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. Look at contouring.
Over the next few days, our heavenly bodies will be visible to us by both the naked eye and with binoculars. Newsweek says that Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be simultaneously visible to the naked eye. The lesbian Sailor Scouts are gonna be difficult with Uranus and Neptune needing binoculars or a telescope to be observed properly.
“These nights, we can see all the planets of our solar system at a glance, soon after sunset,” Astronomer Gianluca Masi told Newsweek. “It happens from time to time, but it is always a spectacular sight.”
The event isn’t as rare as you’d think, more like as often as you can organically find a shiny Pokémon without working too hard. We had one earlier in the year during the summer, but I guess I missed it playing Hades or something else that kept me from interacting with nature.
The Virtual Telescope Project, located in Italy, will be providing a live stream if you want to watch it from home during the Christmas holiday. They will stream the skyline of the moon and planets above Rome for peak romance. The live feed is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. UTC on December 28.
While some will be waiting for the New Year to make resolutions, this might be a good night for those of us of the witchy inclination to make our intentions for the upcoming years. After all, it might not be a prophecy to bring back the Great Ones, but having all that celestial energy in the air won’t hurt if you are looking for some backup. Regardless, it is just another reminder of the wonders of the universe around us and honestly, with all the chaos of the past few years, there is something sort of calming about feeling like a speck in a marble that aliens are playing games with far-far-far away.
(via Newsweek, image: Disney)
