September’s five-planet parade is still visible this weekend, with Venus, Jupiter and Saturn all easy to see in the pre-dawn sky. Uranus and Neptune are faint companions, requiring binoculars or a telescope to see, but are well placed. Here’s how to see the “planet parade” before it begins to disband during October.
Look about an hour before sunrise to see Venus low in the east, Jupiter in the east-southeast and Saturn in the west.
Venus is the brightest planet, followed by Jupiter, then Saturn. Mercury was visible during August, making it a rare six-planet parade, but it has since sunk back into the glare of the sun.
It was Saturn’s annual opposition on Sunday, Sept. 21 and Neptune's on Sept. 23, making those two planets brighter than usual. Neptune is slightly above Saturn, with both rising in the east at sunset and setting in the west at sunrise.
This is the last planet parade until October 2028, when five planets will be visible together, once again before sunrise.
Late September is one of the best times of the year to spot the Andromeda Galaxy (also called M31). Rising in the northeast at sunset, it appears to the naked eye as a faint smudge wider than the full moon — but only if you're under very dark skies free from any light pollution. However, it’s visible from almost anywhere through a pair of binoculars as a hazy oval. At 2.5 million light-years away, it’s the most distant object visible to the naked eye.
The night sky in October brings new constellations, with Orion and Taurus — presently hosting the planet parade — gradually shifting to the evening sky as they rise earlier. Other skywatching highlights in October include the rise of the full harvest moon on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, the Draconid meteor shower on Oct. 8 and the appearance — hopefully — of a bright comet. Comet Lemmon (also called C/2025 A6) makes its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 21, but it could be visible — possibly to the naked eye, but almost certainly through binoculars — in the northern sky from around Oct. 10. It’s also possible that Comet SWAN R2 will also be visible.