Planet Parade 204: Here’s How to Watch 6 Planets Align This June : The Hearty Soul

This year is full of treats for skywatchers. It began with a rare solar eclipse and a solar storm spreading the northern lights. The next celestial show is an alignment of planets, also known as a “planetary parade.” Beginning in June, multiple planets will appear in the night sky.

The 2024 Planet Parade

On June 3rd and 4th, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will be aligned, making this a large planetary alignment involving five or six planets. (A mini planetary alignment includes three.)

But don’t expect to see them all. According to Preston Dyches of NASA’s “Skywatching Tips” video series, two planets might be visible to the naked eye, or none at all. 

Telescopes Required

“Contrary to many reports and social media postings, there will not be a string of naked-eye planets visible on June 3,” Dyches wrote in an email to Phys.org. “Mercury and Jupiter will be far too low in the sky at sunrise. Even under ideal conditions (a dark sky, free from light pollution) Uranus is very dim and challenging to spot. The skyglow near dawn makes matters worse.” Meanwhile, Neptune is six times dimmer than Uranus, so it could only be seen via telescope. Only Venus will be missing from the event.

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The Full Planet Parade

However, that is just the opener. The real planet parade will occur on June 29 when people will be able to see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon during the early dawn. For example, that should happen around 5 or 6 a.m. in Southern California, says Paul Robertson, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UC Irvine. “If you went out that morning,” he says, “you could actually see all of those four objects at the same time, and that’s not really the same for the June 3 thing.”

Keep in mind that despite the diagrams and illustrations of planets lining up in perfect formation, lines like that don’t occur in real life

More Upcoming Celestial Events

Skywatchers have much more to look forward to. Large six-planet alignments will appear before dawn on August 28, 2024, and January 18, 2025. And on the evening of February 28, 2025, all seven other planets in our solar system will be visible in the sky at the same time.

Plus, sometime before September, experts are announcing a Nova outburst. The outburst will be seen in the Corona Borealis constellation, and for one week, it will look as bright as the North Star.

A nova outburst happens when a white dwarf star and a red giant star orbit each other, and the white dwarf takes stellar material from the red giant, causing a flash of nuclear fusion. According to Robertson, the nova outburst may be a “once-in-a-lifetime stargazing opportunity.”

Sky Watching Tips

The planet parade on June 3rd will be visible at different times depending on where you are in the world. Time and Date and Stellarium are websites that show the positions of the planets, their rise and set times, and where you can find them in the sky, depending on your location. Remember to skywatch in an area with as little light pollution as possible. 

“I think people may have gotten a little more interested in watching the sky since the big eclipse,” Robertson said. “I know people traveled for that. It changes your perspective on things.”

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