Five planets set to line up in dawn sky in June 2023

Five planets are set to align in the dawn sky this weekend, giving budding astronomers the chance to see a fairly rare display.

Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn will line up at dawn on Saturday, with some visible to the naked eye.

Early risers with a good view of the horizon will get the best chance of spotting the alignment, also known as a planetary parade.

It is expected that Jupiter and Saturn will be fairly easy to spot, but Neptune and Uranus may require some binoculars.

Additionally, Mercury will only be visible for a short space of time.

Mercury will be trickier to see than the other planets (Image: Canva)

What to look out for with planetary alignment

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 roughly positioned in 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.”

When will the next planetary alignment take place?

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

The previous alignment before this one took place on March 27 earlier this year.