Every planet in the solar system visible in rare "planet parade" Wednesday

The planets of the solar system were lined up in the sky Wednesday night in an astronomical phenomenon, visible from Earth, known as a "planet parade."  

The phenomenon, which was also visible Tuesday night, gave skywatchers a good view of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with the naked eye. With a pair of binoculars or a telescope, Uranus and Neptune could also be seen.

The planet parade is not an extremely rare occurrence — it tends to happen at least every couple of years. In fact, the eight-planet alignment last happened in June.