Five planets to align in epic dawn parade

For all stargazers, the best time to see it is about an hour before local sunrise

Jupiter and Saturn – the dimmer body to the left – will be visible on Saturday, as it lines up with Mercury, Uranus and Neptune. Getty Images

Five planets are falling into line for a celestial power show that will be partially visible with the naked eye.

Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn will all line up together on Saturday in an event known as a planetary parade.

Early risers with a good view of the horizon will have the best chance of spotting the alignment.

Those waking up in the Southern Hemisphere will get a longer viewing party because the winter nights mean longer hours of darkness and more time to find everything.

In the Northern Hemisphere there is less time to find all the planets, but they will be there.

For stargazers everywhere, the best time to see the parade is about an hour before local sunrise.

To get a better look you will need binoculars to see, in order, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus and, finally, Mercury.

Jupiter and Saturn will be easy to spot, Neptune and Uranus may require binoculars and Mercury will be visible for only a short space of time.

Don Pollacco, a professor at the University of Warwick's department of physics, said: “While Jupiter and Saturn will be easy to spot by eye, Mercury will be more challenging as its proximity to the Sun means that it is only just above the horizon and visible about an hour before sunrise.

“Neptune and Uranus need binoculars to be sure of seeing them – although some keen-sighted people can see Uranus unaided.

“Jupiter and Saturn will be bright objects that have a yellowy colour, Mercury often looks pink, and Uranus and Neptune pale white-green.”

Alignments occur when the planets in the solar system are all positioned in approximately the same direction when viewed from Earth.

Saturn will be the first to rise, followed by Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus and Mercury.

Prof Pollacco said: “Given that we understand the orbits of the planets, we can predict when these alignments will occur.

“While the planets may look relatively close together in the sky, they are of course separated by many millions of miles.”

The next five-planet alignment will be on April 20, 2024, which will be a morning parade with Venus, Mercury, Neptune, Mars, and Saturn.