The planets are about to align – but we won’t be able to see it.
In the early hours of June 3 and 4, six of the eight planets in our solar system will form a planetary parade, appearing to form a straight line in space.
However, despite what you may have heard, most of us won’t be able to see it.
The parade is predicted to happen in the early hours of the morning, as the Sun starts to brighten the sky. Combined with the fact that most planets will appear close to the horizon, that means the parade will be hard to see.
Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told Metro.co.uk: ‘While all of the planets are clustered together in the sky, the reality is that most will be all but unobservable.
‘Saturn and perhaps Mars have the best chance of being seen, visible low on the horizon just before sunrise. Neptune is somewhere between the two and may be visible in a small telescope, though it won’t be especially easy to find, hiding in the pre-dawn light.’
Professor Danny Steeghs from the University of Warwick, suggested viewers still try to spot a few of the planets, even if they can’t catch the whole alignment.
‘Seeing the alignment will indeed be challenging as it happens around sunrise and it’s all rather low in the east as well,’ he said.
‘Uranus and Neptune will be faint, so viewers will require good binoculars to see them, Jupiter and even Mercury are very close to the Sun, restricting their view.
‘Mars and Uranus are the more accessible ones to view, you can see them ahead of the other planets rising and a bit higher in the sky.’
What is a planetary parade?
For an event to be considered a planetary alignment, at least three planets need to align – but having six line up at a time is a rare sight.
When the planets orbit around the Sun, they follow an elliptical pattern which sees them on a flat plane. Some planets are above or slightly below the plane, but it is all roughly the same.
Each planet takes a different time to orbit around the Sun, but as they and Earth move around, sometimes they appear to be in a straight line from our perspective.
Cultural significance of planetary parades
Aligning planets was significant for a several ancient civilisations and was often associated with prophecies and omens.
The Mayans and Babylonians, for example, tracked the movements of planets, creating a calendar in the process which has provided modern scientists with a trove of data about planetary movements.
It was often thought that eclipses and alignments were powerful enough to influence terrestrial events.
Will more planetary parades happen in 2024?
More parades will come, and Dr Brown recommends catching them instead.
‘I’d recommend waiting a few months when the outer planets will be far better placed to observe and in a sky that is far darker and easier to see them in,’ he said.
‘The “parade” may not be as complete then, but far more of its members will be easy to see.’
After the event on June 3, there will be one more planetary alignment in 2024, on August 28, where Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will again be visible early in the morning.
In 2025, there are three planetary alignments to watch out for on January 18, February 18, and August 29.
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