Planetary Parade! A number of planets will be visible in the sky this weekend

The six planetary alignment will take place on Monday, June 3.

Michele Powers

May 30, 2024, 11:57 PM

Updated 188 days ago

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Sunny days are nice, but it’s also nice to have clear skies at night every once in a while. With a few of those nights coming up, we have a couple of good chances to see some planets and the moon.
The Moon will pair nicely with the planet Saturn Friday morning. This happens early in the morning and right before sunrise. Saturday will look like a bright star sitting on top of the last quarter moon. Look East-southeast after about 3 a.m. The pair will start to rise higher in the sky before they fade with the bright glow from sunrise.
Sunrise occurs just before 5:30 a.m. throughout the tristate. If you happen to miss this, the pair will team up again on Saturday morning, but they won't be as close. The two get farther apart day by day, but the moon will pair up with another planet soon after. See below for more.
Next up will be the well-hyped “planetary parade” or the six planetary alignment on Monday, June 3. You may have seen images spread like wildfire on social media recently.
But, don’t get your hopes up for something you’ve never seen before. It’s not that rare and you won’t be able to technically see all six planets early Monday morning. What you will see is the crescent moon will be low in the eastern sky along with a bright orange star nearby. This isn’t a star, but the planet Mars. A little farther away and farther to the right will be Saturn.
So, where are the other planets? Mercury and Jupiter will be a little too low on the horizon to see before the sun rises. Mercury is always a tough planet to see due to its close orbit around the Sun. Jupiter is easier to spot at other times this year. The outer planets Uranus and Neptune and too far away to see without a telescope. Technically, Uranus can be seen in really dark remote areas, but that’s not what we have here in the tristate area with the light pollution. They will be out there, just not easily visible unless you know where to look with the aid of a star chart.
Of course, the biggest factor in all of this is the weather! With some cloudiness around late Sunday, this is something that needs to be watched.