Rare Planetary Alignment or Planetary Parade Happening this Summer

I have some exciting news for you today. All the planets will be aligned with our moon. Seeing so many planets at the same time in one area of the sky is quite rare. When it does occur, it is known as a planetary parade. From about June 18th to early July, most of the planets will be aligned. During this special event, the moon will also be aligned with the planets and the moon from the 18th to the 27th of June. Over this period, the moon will pass close to each planet.

To see this, you will need to get up early in the morning. Health and safety warning: do not use optical equipment to scan the sky at this time, as it is too risky with the sun about to rise.

Click to enlarge the Planetary Parade

There will be a big event on June 24th, when all the major planets in our solar system will be in the same area of the sky. Contrary to what you may have seen in the movies, the planets never line up perfectly straight from our perspective. Which, is because they not all orbit on the exact same equatorial plane.

Astronomers in the northern hemisphere will see the planets roughly east to south. Observers in the southern hemisphere will see the planets north to east.

Since they are spread over a section of the sky, binoculars and telescopes will not allow you to view all of the planets at once.

This event would make a good wide-field photography target or just a stunning visual sight. With just your eyes, you will not be able to see Uranus and Neptune. While Uranus is technically visible in dark skies, since this will happen just before sunrise, there is little chance of seeing it.

To the naked eye, the classical planets Mercury and Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn should appear as bright stars. I will try to capture it myself and post the results on this channel, but you can also submit your own photos, and perhaps get featured in the planetary parade round up episode!

To see an animation of what is going to happen during this planetary alignment, please watch the episode below.

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