Skywatchers will be treated to a rare spectacle on Saturday, Aug. 23, as six planets line up in a pre-dawn parade. Also called a planetary alignment, the display will feature Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Uranus and Neptune. Four of these planets — Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury — will be visible to the naked eye, with Mercury currently relatively easy to see in the east before sunrise.
Best seen at least an hour before sunrise, the most dazzling members of the parade will be Venus and Jupiter in the eastern sky. They will be about 11 degrees apart — about the width of an outstretched fist — according to astronomy website When The Curves Line Up.
Saturn, though not as bright as Venus and Jupiter, will be low in the west-southwest before dawn. The moon is not in the sky during the parade this week.
Mercury, the smallest and hardest to find of the group, will appear just above the horizon about 45 minutes before sunrise. Find an unobstructed view toward the east for the best chance of spotting it.
The “Swift Planet” is not easy to see because it appears below 10 degrees altitude, according to NASA. It will remain easily visible until around Aug. 26, after which it will sink into the eastern horizon. Seeing the outer ice giants Uranus and Neptune requires binoculars or a telescope.
Planet-rise and planet-set times vary by location, so use an online planetarium to get exact times. The following “planet parade” will happen during October 2028, when five planets will be visible together, again before sunrise.
This “planet parade” will take place at the end of a night ideal for stargazing. At 2:06 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 23, the moon will reach its new phase, remaining invisible as it passes roughly between Earth and the sun. It’s called a “black moon” by astronomers because it’s the third of four new moons in a single astronomical season.
On the left of Venus and Jupiter will be the stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, while to the lower-right of the planets will be Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation and, beyond it, the unmistakable three bright stars in a vertical Orion's Belt — Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.
Following this week's much-anticipated “planet parade,” only three bright planets — Saturn, Jupiter and Venus — will remain visible to the naked eye as Mercury slips back into the glare of the sun.
The next major event in the skywatching calendar is a “blood moon” total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7, visible across large parts of Asia, Africa and western Australia. Before sunrise on Sept. 19, observers will be treated to super-slim waning crescent moon close to Venus and Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. That alignment will be beautiful and rare sight.
Just two days later, on Sept. 21, a partial solar eclipse will be visible across parts of the Pacific Ocean just as Saturn reaches opposition, when Earth is between it and the sun. This marks the planet’s brightest appearance of the year and the best time to observe its iconic rings. While Saturn is visible to the naked eye, a modest backyard telescope will reveal its rings in detail — though this year the view is side-on.