As six planets line up across the night sky this month in what is called a parade of the planets, four of the planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible with the naked eye.
Māori Astronomy Educator and Astrophotograher, Josh Aoraki says this is a beautiful reminder for whānau to reconnect to the taiao.
“A planetary parade usually applies when there is planetary alignment of three or more planets. You’re going to get a string of planets after sunset”
Uranus and Neptune will also be visable, but not without the assistance of binoculars or telescopes.
“You’re going to get two out in the west, one in the north and one in the east” he explained
Aoraki says the event isn’t rare, but he acknowledges the rarity of being able to see four planets without a telescope or binoculars.
“If you look to the west, you will see a bright looking star and that is Kōpū or Venus. Thats going to be the first one you’re going to see and just above that is Kukume or Rongo which is Saturn”
“Directly in the north you’re going to have Parearau or Jupiter. An easy guide is to look for Matariki, just to the right of it you will see the bright star Parearau. And all the way in the west you are going to see a distinctively red looking star, that is Mars or Matawhero or Rangawhenua, it has many names” he adds
With the resurgence of cultural indigenous knowledge of the stars, Aoraki says that there are some conclusions that can be drawn with the planetary alignment.
“I found that traditionally, planetary alignments and even things like comets are these tohu of death of conflict of war and thats traditionally being a worldview not in Aotearoa, but around the world for a lot of cultures”
“It’s a beautiful reminder to get out into the night sky and to reconnect. For a lot of us, in the modern world, we’re very disconected from te taiao and the night sky. It’s a gorgeous reminder to get out look at the whetū, and te marama and all the things above us”
