Talk:Planetary parade

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This is a (recent?) hobbyist term

Latest comment: 15 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion

i changed the first line of the article. I'm a professional astronomer and nobody in astronomy uses this term. It's a non-technical term used by popular astronomy media publications, astrophotographers, and hobbyists.

NASA's definition clarifies that its non-technical, and the IAU doesn't have a definition for this type of event

Also, how recent is this term in popular use? I cannot find any sources prior to the 2020's defining this word. It sure does seem like it was invented specifically to define the 2025 "parade" without calling it a "planetary alignment". For example, in December 1997 all of the naked-eye planets were quite close and APOD did not call this a parade. The 2022 planetary configuration is the first time APOD uses this term ~2026-50261-44 (talk) 13:03, 15 October 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm 2026-50261-44. I want to clarify what I meant (I wrote this at 5AM local time)

It sure does seem like it was invented specifically to define the 2025 "parade" without calling it a "planetary alignment".

What I meant to say was that it was picked up and popularized, not that it was invented. I clearly know it predates 2025 because I cite a source from 2022 BlueEarOtter (talk) 16:17, 15 October 2026 (UTC)Reply