An incredible celestial show is about to light up the night sky as five planets will be parading in a rare alignment this weekend.
One hour before sunrise on Saturday morning, June 17, Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn will be aligned near the eastern horizon.
This is a rare opportunity to see five planets at once, but be aware that two of them (Neptune and Uranus) will be challenging to spot.
To make the most out of this astronomical event, download Sky Tonight, a free stargazing app that will help you locate the planets in the sky with ease.
How to see the alignment of planets 2023?
First, choose the right time. As mentioned above, you should find out the sunrise time for your location and start your observations at least an hour before it. You can find out the sunrise time for your location with Sky Tonight.
Then, make sure you’re looking at the planets and not the stars. It’s not as obvious as it seems! It may be easy to distinguish Jupiter because it will be the brightest celestial object in the morning sky until the Sun rises. The other planets, however, are much fainter. One of the differences is that the planets, unlike the stars, don’t twinkle. And if you observe the night sky throughout the year, you’ll notice that the planets “visit” different constellations while the stars stay in “fixed” positions relative to each other.
The easiest way to check if you see a planet or a star is by using the free Sky Tonight app:
Step 1: Open Sky Tonight and point your device at the sky or tap the big blue button. The app will display a live representation of the sky above you and track your movements.
Step 2: Direct your device toward the part of the sky where the object you wish to identify is located. You can lower the magnitude so that only naked-eye objects are left on the screen. To do this, tap the bottom panel and drag the top slider toward the eye icon.
Step 3: Tap on the object to see its name on the screen, then you can tap the name to learn more about it.
