When Do The Planets Align? How To Watch The 2022 Planetary ...

Space fans will be excited to hear that a rare phenomenon is happening in the night skies.

Five of our planetary neighbours – Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury – will be aligning, and will be able to be seen by the naked eye.

Here’s everything you need to know.

When is the planetary alignment?

The planetary alignment will take place from now until the end of June. You won’t be able to see it in the first half of the evening, though, so it means an early rise. The best time to view it will be around 24 June.

The last time this line-up happened was 5 March 1864, according to Space.com, and it isn’t likely to happen again for many decades.

What will happen?

The planets will first start to appear in the middle of the night and then one by one each one will be revealed. The last planet will appear about 30 or 40 minutes before sun rise.

With a telescope, you may also be able to see Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s four Galilean moons.

When viewed all at once, they will appear in the order they are in the solar system, from closest to the sun (Mercury) to furthest (Saturn).

The only planets that will be missing are Uranus, Neptune, and of course, Earth. However, the Moon will be visible between 23-25 June and will be situated between Mars and Venus.

How can I see it?

It will be harder to see all five planets from the UK because the further north you go the harder it is to spot Mercury.

Robert Massey, the deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, told Newsweek: “As far north as southern Europe and the southern United States, observers should be able to see all five planets fairly easily, but Mercury is really low and difficult when you get as far north as the U.K. and Canada.

🪐 Planets align. It’s fine. What is time? Does that even rhyme?Look up starting tonight to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn spread out and appear to line up in the sky. The crescent moon joins them on June 23: https://t.co/36QwkIxfaw pic.twitter.com/uh5V9W2q45

— NASA (@NASA) June 19, 2022

“The reason is that the tilt of the ecliptic – the imaginary plane of the solar system – has a very shallow angle up here in the June morning sky, whereas in the southern hemisphere it makes a steep angle to the horizon.”

People in the southern hemisphere will get the best view, although southern Europe will also be able to watch with some ease.

That’s not to say you won’t see anything from the UK, and experts are saying that one of the most notable aspects of this alignment is that it can be seen from even light-polluted cities and urban areas.

You won’t need a telescope or binoculars to take in the view, although they will be handy.

Joe Rao from Space.com, said: “Make sure you have an unobstructed view of the eastern and southern horizons so that you’ll have a clear view of the moon and planets on any given morning.

“The best views will be either from an elevated area above any tall buildings or trees, or from a shoreline where you can look out over open water to a flat sea horizon.”

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