The dark skies of Chile’s Atacama Desert are perfect for skywatching, especially when a parade of six planets and a comet grace the night sky all at once.
In February 2025, conditions were just right to catch a “planetary party” above the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory. In new photos of this planet parade, the wispy glow of our own Milky Way galaxy is accompanied by Saturn, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars as they make their way through the night sky.
A bright moon lights up the desert beneath the planets and stars in the sky, while comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is just visible above the horizon.
ESO released two images of an equirectangular projection of the “planetary party.” In this type of image, a spherical image is flattened or “unrolled” into a rectangular image.
The brightest object left of center is the moon, while the faint, wispy tail of comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) can be seen at the far left, just to the right of one of the observatory’s telescopes.
Along the right side of the image, the long arc of the Milky Way can be seen.
Related: Night sky, March 2025: What you can see tonight [maps]
TOP TELESCOPE PICK:
Want to see planets up close in the night sky? The Celestron NexStar 4SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of celestial objects. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 4SE review.
In an annotated version of the photo, ESO provided labels for all of the objects in the sky. In a statement accompanying the photo, ESO notes that the planets do not follow the same arc of the Milky Way, but instead follow an imaginary line known as the ecliptic. The ecliptic traces the path that Earth and the other planets follow as they orbit the sun.
The Milky Way does not follow the ecliptic, however. As noted in ESO’s statement, this is because the ecliptic plane that Earth and the other planets follow around the sun is tilted around 60 degrees relative to the plane of the Milky Way.
“If the Milky Way could somehow be shrunk down to lie flat on a table, our solar system would be jutting out like a pin stuck in it at an odd angle,” ESO wrote in the statement.
In addition to the equirectangular projection, ESO also released two fisheye projections of the planetary parade. These show the night sky more closely to how they would be seen by an observer looking straight up.
In a labeled version of this projection, the starkly different planes of the ecliptic and the Milky Way are much more visible.
If you’re looking for a telescope or binoculars to observe the night sky, our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals now can help. Our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help you prepare to capture the next skywatching sight. And don’t miss our helpful tips on how to photograph the planets.
Editor’s Note: If you snapped an amazing planetary parade photo and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.