Topline
There’ s six-planet parade on Monday, Aug. 25, just before dawn. Saturn, Jupiter and bright Venus will dominate the scene, with Mercury putting in a fleeting appearance low in the east. Uranus and Neptune will be in the sky, but remain invisible without binoculars or a small telescope. However, time is short, with Mercury rapidly sinking into the suns’ glare by next week, reducing the parade to five.
Key Facts
Best seen at least an hour before sunrise, the brightest members of the planet parade will be Venus and Jupiter, which dominate the eastern sky. They will be about 12 degrees apart — about the width of an outstretched fist — and are widening slightly each morning.
Saturn will shine in the southwest, higher and easier to see than Mercury, but fainter than Venus and Jupiter. The moon will not be not in the sky during the parade this week.
Mercury, the smallest and hardest to find of the group, will appear just above the horizon about 45 minutes before sunrise. Find an unobstructed view toward the east for the best chance of spotting it.
The “Swift Planet” is not easy to see because it appears below 10 degrees altitude, according to NASA. It will remain easily visible until around Aug. 26, after which it will sink into the eastern horizon.
Planet-rise and planet-set times for an exact location vary, so use an online planetarium that displays that data. The following planet parade will happen during October 2028, when five planets will be visible together, again before sunrise.
Why It’s Not A ‘planetary Alignment’
You’ll hear the phrase “planetary alignment” to describe the view of the planets before sunrise this August. This is incorrect. The planets don’t wander randomly through space, only to align in an act if huge coincidence. Planets orbit the sun in nearly circular paths, all within the same flat plane. As seen from Earth, planets therefore appear in a line across the sky — the same line the sun takes through the sky — called the ecliptic. The moon also moves close to the ecliptic, occasionally crossing it when at new moon or full moon to cause an eclipse — hence its name. How many planets you can see at night depends on where Earth and other planets are in their orbits — not on any kind of chance alignment.
What’s Next In The ‘planet Parade’
After the spectacle of August’s planet parade, September brings a rich calendar of night-sky events. The month opens in style on Sept. 7 with a total lunar eclipse, visible across Asia, Africa, and western Australia, turning the full corn moon a pinkish, organgy color. On Sept. 19, Venus shines beside the star Regulus in Leo beneath a delicate crescent Moon. Two days later, a partial solar eclipse will sweep across the Pacific on the same date as Saturn reaches opposition, glowing at its brightest of 2025.
