Technologies

The First Planet Parade of 2026 Is in February: Here’s How to See It

The visible planets will include Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Uranus and Neptune.

Skygazers, mark your calendars because one of the coolest celestial events is coming around again toward the end of February. Six planets will be visible in the night sky at the same time for a couple of weeks. This phenomenon is known as a planet parade, and it happens only a few times a year.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

This particular planet parade will include Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It’s just one planet shy of the full set, a phenomenon that is quite rare and most recently happened in February 2025. You will also need a telescope to see everything, especially since much of it will occur right at dusk, which will make a few of the planets harder to see.

When will the planet parade happen?

The Northern Hemisphere will get its best glimpse at the planet parade right around sunset during the last week of February. This one will be particularly challenging for skywatchers because spotting planets with the sun even partially up is much more difficult due to light pollution. Your best bet is around 6:45 p.m. local time, and your window will be exceedingly short. Mercury and Venus drop below the horizon roughly 30 to 45 minutes later, so that’s all the time you’ll have.

The good news is that Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Neptune are all clustered together against the western horizon near the setting sun. Venus and Mercury will be right next to each other, and Saturn and Neptune will be clumped together nearby. That should make the four of them a little bit easier to spot, which is a boon for skygazers given the short window.

Jupiter and Uranus will be the easiest to spot and will remain in the sky long after the other four planets have dipped below the horizon. Uranus will travel across the southern sky alongside the Taurus constellation before dropping below the western horizon a few hours after midnight. Jupiter will follow a very similar path to Uranus, but is hanging out with the Gemini constellation.

All told, the best dates to view the planet parade in the US, Canada and Mexico are Feb. 21 to 28. Before Feb. 21, Venus and Mercury will be too close to the sun. Once March begins, Mercury will drift closer to the sun again, dipping below the horizon before it’s readily visible. Once that happens, the five-planet parade will continue for about another week or so before Neptune and Saturn dip below the horizon, thus ending the parade and leaving only Venus, Jupiter and Uranus visible in the sky.

Will the planet parade be visible in my region?

Yes. We checked Stellarium’s sky map from several locations across the US, Mexico and Canada, and the planet parade was visible in every place we checked. According to Star Walk, the parade will be visible everywhere from Tokyo to London. We also checked the Southern Hemisphere, and it’ll be visible there as well. The dates vary based on location, but most places should be able to see it at some point between Feb. 21 and Feb. 28.

How can I find the various planets in the sky?

The image above gives you a general idea of where they’ll be in relation to one another, but the best thing to do is check out a sky map and plan ahead. We recommend Stellarium’s sky map if you’re on a desktop and Stellarium Mobile (Android and iOS) if you’re using your phone.

We recommend finding Venus first because it’s the easiest planet to spot out of the four that are near the sun. You can then use the app to find the other three. Jupiter and Uranus are all by themselves in the night sky and will be there after the other four dip below the horizon, so we recommend finding those last since they’ll be around longer.

Will I need any special equipment to view the parade?

Yes. With four of the planets close to the sun, it will make them hard to spot with the naked eye, thanks to the light pollution. Uranus and Neptune are impossible to see without a magnification device of some sort, even in total darkness. A telescope is highly recommended. Astronomers suggest a minimum of an 8-inch aperture and 50 times magnification to get the best results. That is strong enough to see the rings of Uranus and Saturn. You need a telescope with roughly 150 times magnification to peep the rings on Neptune.

The usual space viewing tips also apply. Get away from the city to a place with as little light pollution as possible, since you’re already fighting the sun to see these things. And be very careful not to point your telescope at the sun, since that can damage your eyes. Try to pick a night with as little cloud cover as possible.

The first of three planet parades in 2026

Planet parades are uncommon, but sometimes the universe smiles on Earth. This year is going to be really good for planet parades, as three are expected in 2026. February is the first one. The other two are slated for April (five planets) and August (six planets). That means there are two more chances to watch a planet parade in 2026 if you have to miss the one in February.

Technologies

Google’s New AI Features Are Trying to Make Data Entry a Thing of the Past

More Gemini AI features will come to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The latest batch of Google updates to its workspace tools highlights AI’s promise to automate mundanity in the workplace. Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drive all have new AI-powered features, the company announced Tuesday. The one thing all these updates have in common? Gemini is using your files, emails and chats to give you relevant information, not random answers gleaned from the web.

These updates come as AI is playing a bigger role in our work lives, for better or worse. Agentic tools like Claude Cowork and coding assistants like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex are more capable than chatbots and able to handle tasks announced independently. AI tools are also becoming more customized, with Google’s personalized intelligence rolling out across its platforms to help refine AI outputs to things that are relevant and useful for you. Google continues that trend with this new batch of Workspace updates.

New Gemini AI features in Google Workspace apps will cite their sources after each query. For example, if you ask Gemini in Google Docs to fill out an itinerary template, it will pull the information from your email, chats and files. The «sources» tab in the Gemini side panel will show you where it found the information it used, like your flight confirmation email and chats discussing dinner plans. Seeing where Gemini pulled its answers from is also how you’ll double-check Gemini’s work.

The most impressive new features are in Sheets, where AI can fill in the holes in your spreadsheets. You can describe what you want the AI to do with a simple prompt and avoid writing an exact formula. You can click on an empty cell, select the pop-up that says «Drag to fill with Gemini,» then highlight the cells you want Gemini to fill in. That deploys an AI agent to search the web to fill each cell with the necessary information.

For example, if you have a spreadsheet of the contact info for local companies, you can have Gemini search the web to fill in a the location, CEO and other publicly available information of each company. The tool aims to dramatically reduce the time needed for manual data entry. Gemini can also summarize, categorize and create charts with prompts alone.

You can also chat with Gemini in Sheets and have it scour your raw data to make custom reports and charts. No need for pivot tables if they confound you as much as they baffle me. One of the biggest uses of AI at work is helping create presentations.

In Google Slides, you can now tell Gemini in natural language what you want to appear on a slide, and it will create it, matching the style of your existing slides. You can also ask Gemini to edit your slides if you don’t want to waste time painstakingly moving design elements around the slide. The AI should fill the slides with relevant information based on your instructions and the work files it has access to, so you shouldn’t need to replace a bunch of filler text.

If you use Docs, Sheets and Slides through the Workspace account of your company, then you won’t be able to turn off AI features individually. The managing company is in control of AI access for users. Personal users can tweak their settings to limit Gemini. The new features are rolling out in beta now, in English only, to Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers in the US, as well as some Google Workspace customers who are part of the Gemini Alpha testing program.

For more, check out the new cowork feature in Copilot and how to use Perplexity AI for deep research.

Technologies

Nintendo Switches Lanes, Sues US Over Tariffs

Mario wants his money back.

Tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump were struck down by the Supreme Court last month. Companies that were subjected to those fees, such as FedEx and Dollar General, have since sued the federal government, and Nintendo wants a piece of the action.

Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the federal government in the US Court of International Trade on Friday, as first spotted by Aftermath. The complaint seeks refunds of tariffs Nintendo paid, plus interest, and asks the court to declare the tariffs unlawful and stop the government from collecting them going forward.

«Since February 1, 2025, President Trump has executed the unlawful Executive Orders, imposing tariffs on imports from a vast swath of countries,» Nintendo said in the complaint.

When reached for comment, Nintendo of America confirmed the lawsuit.

«We can confirm that we filed a request. We have nothing else to share on this topic,» Nintendo of America said in an emailed statement on Friday, March 6.

It’s unclear how much Nintendo paid in tariffs, and it did not state an amount in the lawsuit. While the Switch 2 was priced at $450 when it launched last year, and has stayed at that amount, Nintendo did increase the price of the original Switch and accessories for both consoles. Microsoft and Sony also increased the prices of their hardware and accessories last year due to tariffs.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 6 to 3 that the sweeping tariffs Trump instituted last year exceeded his executive powers. Following the ruling, on the same day, Trump announced a new set of tariffs of 10% on imported goods that would last for 150 days, starting Feb. 24.

The decision on what to do with the collected tariffs — a reported $166 billion — has been left to the US Court of International Trade. Judge Richard Eaton told the US Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday, March 4, to refund the importers that were forced to pay tariffs, which is more than 330,000. On Friday, the CBP said it couldn’t easily issue tariff refunds because its system requires duties to be recalculated and refunds processed entry by entry. This process would involve tens of millions of transactions. The agency said it’s updating its systems and could start providing refunds by late April.