Adding to the list of solar events that have occurred so far this year, six planets are set to line up before sunrise Wednesday morning to form what is known as a planetary parade or alignment.
The six planets are Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, and they are set to align in what is known as a large planetary alignment, when six or more planets line up and are visible in the sky at the same time.
Tom Traub, vice president of the Martz-Kohl Observatory in Frewsburg, said the planets will appear in different parts of the sky with different ranges of visibility.
“You will be able to see Jupiter, Mars and the moon very close together and high in the sky in the east,” Traub said. “In the southwest you will see Saturn. Mercury will be harder to see because of the brightness of the sky and you will need binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus and Neptune.”
Traub said the moon will be in a thin crescent as well. Additionally, he said this type of gathering of planets is not that uncommon depending on the orbits of the planets. Another occurrence of planets having this close of an arrangement can happen between six months to two years apart. To see them all together in the sky before sunrise can happen every five years or so. Traub added that most people will not see any of the planets except for the brighter ones without aid, and that if someone were to watch the moon over the next few days they would see it move about 15 degrees every day. Right now it is closer to the sun because the full moon is past, and the Earth Shine, or the shadow of the moon that is still able to be seen because of close proximity to the sun, is visible.
The best place to view the planetary parade is somewhere with as much unobstructed sky as possible, Traub said, at around 5:30 a.m. at the latest. This will be where and when Jupiter and Mars will be close by overhead, and Traub said to view them someone will need to be looking at least an hour before sunrise, with a “nice, unobstructed view of the northeast horizon.”
Traub said people should be interested in viewing the planetary parade to enjoy the beauty of it.
“It’s mostly about enjoying the beauty of the heavens and enjoying the cosmic work of our solar system,” Traub said. “It will be a pretty picture, but you won’t be able to see much detail. You will see the red of Mars with Jupiter and Saturn in opposition and closer to us.”
The next time the planets will align in a similar event will be in December, with the planets lining up after sunset in the evening instead. Wednesday’s planetary parade follows other solar events of the year, such as the April eclipse and the Northern Lights that were able to be seen a few times in the local area, though Traub said the Northern Lights are more unpredictable. He added, for the planetary parade there will also be more meteor showers and shooting stars able to be seen.
“If you get up early before sunrise to see the planetary parade you may also see more meteors and shooting stars, because the Earth is plowing into more of those particles to create minor meteor showers,” Traub said. “These showers are more active and will be more active than usual because of the time of these major solar activities.”