NASA is warning people away from watching the so-called “parade of planets.”
There will be no jaw-dropping “planet parade” on Monday, June 3—at least, not one anyone will see.
NASA has taken the unusual step of debunking a much-shared news story circulating online and on social media concerning an alignment of the planets next week.
If you’ve read any of the breathless coverage across all kinds of outlets that never usually care about the night sky, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s going to be as dramatic as the best northern lights for 21 years: a total solar eclipse or the incoming naked-eye comet.
Sadly, it won’t be.
NASA Speaks
“You may have heard about a “parade of planets” on June 3,” reads a post by the @NASASolarSystem account on X. “Be aware that most of them will be either too close to the rising Sun or too faint to see.”
As I reported on May 21, reports are spreading about a June 3 line-up before sunrise of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
It’s not untrue—there will be an alignment of those planets—but four of those planets will be invisible. It also shows a misunderstanding of the term “alignment.”
Rethinking ‘Alignments’
The solar system is flat and all the planets orbit on more-or-less the same plane. Think of the solar system as a fried egg; the sun is the yolk and the planets each draw circles in the white, all going the same direction.
Now, think of the sun’s path through our daytime sky. Astronomers call this the ecliptic, and it’s also where you can always find planets at night. Not in the northern sky or in the extreme south, but always along the ecliptic.
The planets are always in alignment. Sometimes, they are bunched up, but not particularly so on June 3. In fact, the entire pre-dawn panorama of the six planets spans the northeast to the southeast sky. That’s a big area.
What You Will See
Go outside before dawn on June 3 and you’ll see two planets—Saturn and Mars—shining rather dimly generally about east-southeast. That’s it!
Uranus and Neptune are too small and dim to see with anything but high-powered telescopes—particularly in the pre-dawn light—and Jupiter and Mercury will be lost in the sun’s glare.
“Look for reddish Mars between Saturn and the slim crescent Moon,” states NASA in its tweet. A 12% waning crescent moon will shine close to Mars, but there’s no reason to get up on Monday, June 3 just for that. Every morning between now and Tuesday, June 4 a waning crescent moon can be seen with Mars and Saturn.
As astronomical sights go, a waning crescent moon and a couple of dim planets is pretty. But it’s not “wake up the nation” pretty.
Stay in bed and save yourself for the next “solar superstorm” for northern lights, or the next total solar eclipse.
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Pick up my three books Stargazing in 2024, A Stargazing Program For Beginners and When Is The Next Eclipse?
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
