Science
There will be a solar parade of planets today; the next one will be in the 23rd century
Levon Azizyan, Director of the Center for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring, SNCO, reports:
"On the night of January 6-7, 2026, a solar parade of planets is expected, the next time of which will take place only in the 23rd century.
At that moment, the Sun, Venus, and Mars, as a result of their orbital motion, will line up on one line, the press service of the Joint Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the Institute of Space Research and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences reports.
When viewed from Earth, the Sun and the two closest planets will appear to coincide at nearly the same point. It is this combination that experts compare figuratively to the Star of Bethlehem.
On January 6 and 7, the angular distance between the planets and the Sun will be approximately 1.2 degrees. On January 8, this distance will drop below 1 degree. Similar planetary configurations within 1 ° of the Sun have been recorded only three times in the last 500 years: in 1669, 1682, and 1968.
In the current millennium, this phenomenon has occurred only three times in a thousand years: in June 2267, December 2324, and finally in December 2623 (not counting this year's approach). Another close, but more than 1 degree conjunction was observed relatively recently, in October 2006.
Experts emphasize that the probability of such an event coinciding with a specific calendar day (in this case, Christmas in the Orthodox Church) is exceptionally low - approximately once every 20 thousand years.
