LOOK UP. Earlier in March, on a cold, clear night in Bradford the planets of Venus and Saturn shone very bright in the night sky and if you thought that interesting, wait for the rare sky event to parade across the skies tonight.

According to Farmers’ Almanac, to catch a glimpse of five planets plus the moon in a rare planetary alignment in tonight’s sky grab a pair of binoculars, and look west approximately 20 minutes after tonight’s sun sets.

Celestial objects will appear in the following order, from left to right, Messier 35 (a large star cluster), Mars, the Moon, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury — hopefully the night is clear of clouds. Unfortunately, as of Friday evening the National Weather Service is forecasting a 60% chance of rain and snow falling from mostly cloudy skies.

One thing you could do, to optimize your chances of witnessing this rare planetary arrangement is to stake out an observation site before dusk. The best place to observe the parade of planets will have a clear and unobstructed view of the western horizon, with the best options looking out over water or a flat, wide-open field.

To preview an image of what tonight’s rare sky arrangement will look like, visit www.farmersalmanac.com/rare-sky-event-parade-of-planets-2023. However, if you are unable to preview the arrangement of tonight’s sky, start by locating Venus — the brightest planet and easiest to spot, even without binoculars. Venus serves as a guide to find the other planets and celestial objects. To the lower right of Venus will be Jupiter than Mercury and to the upper left of Venus will be Uranus, the Moon, Mars, and finally the star cluster Messier 35.