A stunning "parade of planets" will grace the night sky this week, with all seven of Earth's celestial neighbors joining the show. Here's how to spot it and why it happens.

The view was acquired on Sept. 14, 2017 at 19:59 UTC (spacecraft event time). The view was taken in visible light using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of 394,000 miles (634,000 kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is about 11 miles (17 kilometers).

The document builds on the academies' decadal survey, outlining recommended missions for NASA's next New Frontiers program.

Friday night is one of the best nights to see the rare cosmic sight of all seven planets aligning across the night sky. The next time to catch a planet parade is August or wait until they realign in 2028.

Ahead of its dance with Saturn on Feb. 24, Mercury should be seen on Feb. 19 at magnitude -1.2 with binoculars 20 minutes after sunset, 3 degrees up and 15 degrees left of due west, Space.com reported. With each passing day, Mercury will gain 1 degree in altitude and become more visible to the naked eye.

The NASA boffins in white coats and thick-rimmed glasses have detected new signals that show the Oort cloud - the spooky shell of icy objects at the very edge of our solar system - might have spiralling arms that resemble a galaxy.

Mercury has a rocky surface when, facing the sun, can reach highs of 800 degrees while overnight lows could reach minus 290 degrees, according to the space agency. Venus holds the crown of the hottest planet in the solar system, at 900 degrees.

According to NASA, multi-planet lineups are visible "every few years," but a seven-planet alignment is particularly uncommon, as each planet's orbit varies, with some moving more quickly and Mercury, in particular, being visible during its 88-day orbit for only "a couple of weeks at a time" each year.