Matias Delacroix/AP/File
Binoculars may help spot Uranus and Neptune as they appear to align with other planets early Monday morning in most parts of the world; Sunday is ideal for viewers in North America and Europe.
Subscribe to CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
CNN
—
A “planet parade” in which six planets appear lined up in the pre-dawn sky, but only three planets are visible to the naked eye – and this phenomenon is more common than it seems.
“You will be able to see Mars, Saturn and Jupiter,” said Dr. James O’Donoghue, a planetary astronomer and research fellow at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. “If you have binoculars and know where to look, you could probably see Uranus, but there’s no point in waiting until it’s close to sunrise – you can do it earlier in the night.” All in all, you can only see about half of the planets in this planetary system with the naked eye.”
According to O’Donoghue, the best day to see the spectacle in Europe and North America will be Sunday, about half an hour before sunrise. Focusing on that time frame would give you a chance to see Mercury, too, though it might not be easy even with binoculars, he said.
“The problem is that the sun will illuminate the sky in that area,” O’Donoghue added. “It’s just before sunrise, but the sky will still be very, very clear, and you probably won’t want to aim your telescope close to the sun.”
If you have one, a telescope will help, especially if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Uranus and Neptune. “But to actually see them, you have to get so close to one target that you can’t see the others anyway, so you’d lose all field of view,” he said.
The order in which the planets line up on Sunday is Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn, accompanied by a crescent moon. Later in the week, on Thursday, the Moon will be out of the way — reducing light pollution, O’Donoghue noted — and Mercury will swap positions with Jupiter.
The alignment will be visible to sky watchers everywhere, but ideal the closest line planet display date may vary depending on where you are in the world.
It is important to note that this alignment does not occur in space, but only in the sky as seen from our planet.
“From the perspective of someone standing on Earth looking at the sky, it will look like there is more or less a straight line of planets, which you might call a planetary alignment or a planetary parade,” said Dr. Kate Pattle, Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London.
“But physically there is no real alignment. It’s just that most of the planets are more or less on the same side of the Sun at the moment. If the planets actually aligned in space, it would be called syzygy and that is a much, much rarer event,” she added.
This kind of planetary alignment is actually not rare at all. “There will be several over the next few years because the outer planets move more slowly in the sky because they’re further away from us, which creates a lot of chances for this kind of alignment to happen,” Pattle said. “Actually, it’s probably better next February when we have all the planets in the sky at the same time, including Venus, which is missing from this one.”
Pattle recommends Monday, about an hour before sunrise, as the best time to see the show in most parts of the world, and she is more optimistic about Mercury joining the group of planets visible without instruments.
“Mercury is usually visible with the naked eye if you’re somewhere with low light pollution, but it’s better with binoculars because (the planet is) not particularly bright and is only visible shortly before dawn, so it’s usually against a fairly bright background.” ” she said.
An app like Stellarium Mobile or Night Sky can come in handy if you’re not sure where to look, and ideally you’ll need to be somewhere with low light pollution and a low horizon, as Jupiter, Mercury and Uranus will be well above, Pattle said. .
You should also try to be somewhere with a good view of the east as it will be more or less in the direction of the sunrise. “Jupiter will be the easiest to spot because it will be the brightest thing in the sky after the moon,” Pattle said. “The other planets, they’re not easy to make out, but they don’t twinkle the same way the stars do, so that’s one way to spot them.