If you’ve been staying indoors all summer because of the heat and poor air quality from the wildfires, August is a great month to get outside and look at the sky. Among the various cool events taking place is a planetary show with six planets visible at the same time.
The show starts in the evening on Aug. 12 and continue until Aug. 17 or 18, depending on where you are. This planet parade includes Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, and like many previous parades, the planets are lined up in a nice curve, so it should be easy to see them all. The parade is seen across the US and Canada.
You need to get up early for this, as the best time to see the show is just before sunrise. This is because Jupiter and Mercury do not rise above the eastern horizon until 15 to 20 minutes before the sun. The good news is that Mercury and Jupiter are close to each other and are often visible. A pair of binoculars should help a lot, but be sure to be careful as the sun will follow Mercury and Jupiter on the horizon very briefly.
Some planets are higher in the sky and present less danger of being seen. Mars is high in the eastern sky and visible without the need for binoculars. Uranus will be high in the eastern sky, facing south. Following that curve, you can see Saturn in the southern sky as a yellow dot. Neptune is near the end of the line. Uranus and Neptune require a telescope or powerful binoculars to view, and if you want a higher view of Saturn, that magnification will help too.
You have a whole week if you want to do this. Before Aug. 12, Jupiter is trending too close to the sun to be seen safely, and after Aug. 17-18, Mercury ends up being too close to the sun to be viewed safely. Before and after that day, you can still see the show of the five planets for a long time.
Venus is also technically visible at night. It sits on the western horizon just after sunset, so it is not visible at the same time as Mercury and Jupiter. However, if you don’t mind pulling an all-nighter, you can see all seven planets in the sky in one night.
Do I need any devices to amplify this?
The placement of Neptune and Uranus means you’ll need some kind of magnifying device to see all the planets. Binoculars work, as both Uranus and Neptune can be seen (albeit dimly) in perfect alignment, and will help you spot Mercury before sunrise.
A telescope is the best tool as you can easily see the rings of Saturn and other planets. We don’t recommend using a telescope to find Mercury, as you might accidentally catch the sun, which is not a good idea.
Part three of the feature is coming in Aug. 12
If you want one day to get out and watch the sky for the rest of the year, Aug. 12 makes a compelling case. The parade parade goes up at that time, and continues for the next week. It’s always fun to see a bunch of planets appear in the solar system in one night, but in terms of excitement, there’s no doubt that the most interesting thing happens on Aug. 12.
The Perseids meteor shower will peak in the evening on Aug. 12, which means that those who go out to see all the planets can also guarantee a meteor sighting, as the Perseids are one of the most active meteor showers of the year. By chance, the constellation Perseus, the point from which the Perseid meteors originate, is close to Mars and Uranus. That means you can check the show and see the meteors at the same time since they are in the same area of the sky. The timing and placement doesn’t get any better than that.
If that’s not cool enough, nature has one more thing to throw into the equation: August 12 is also the date of the next solar eclipse. North America is an outlier, but if you draw a line from Washington state to North Carolina, every state north of that line will get at least a partial eclipse of about 20%. Since the sun is not completely covered, proper precautions for solar eclipse viewing are best to avoid eye damage.
Three spectacular celestial events occurring in the same 24-hour period are rare, so if you’re willing, it’s a good day to look up.