On the morning of 28 August, a parade of six planets and the Moon will be visible in the sky. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and the Earth’s natural satellite will be on one side of the Sun in a sector of about 160 degrees. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to the New York Post.
Throughout August, all objects except Mercury and the Moon will be visible from midnight to dawn. They will soon be joined by the smallest planet in the Solar System, which will appear in the morning sky after four in the morning. And on 28 August, the descending sickle of our satellite will be located near Mars.
The August parade was called conditional because the planets will be located in a sector that is too large. Saturn and Neptune will be the first to rise after 9pm the night before, and after midnight, Uranus, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon will appear over the horizon.
Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will be visible in the eastern part of the sky in the morning, while Neptune and Saturn will be in the southwest.
In clear weather, all six planets, except Neptune and Uranus, will be visible to the naked eye. Mercury is quite difficult to find, as it is located very low near the horizon and loses bright sunlight, and its visibility is less than an hour. To see Neptune and Uranus, you will need a telescope or powerful binoculars.
The ideal time to watch this celestial event is about an hour before sunrise on 28 August.
The next great parade of planets will take place on 28 February 2025.
How to know if you are seeing a planet and not a star
Jupiter will be easy to spot, as it will be second only to the Moon as the brightest luminary in the dark sky. The rest of the lineup is a little dimmer, making them harder to distinguish.
The key difference? Planets, unlike stars, do not twinkle.