Celestial Rendezvous: A Photographer’s Breathtaking View of the ‘Parade of Planets’

Planetary alignments are not uncommon, but they are always a breathtaking sight to behold. Recently, astrophotographer Josh Dury captured a stunning photo of the “parade of planets” in the predawn sky, featuring Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in alignment. The image was taken on June 1 from The Mendip Hills in the U.K., and it is clear that the planets were visible due to their proximity to each other.

Dury recounted his experience of climbing Crooks Peak at 2 am to witness the alignment of these planets rising one after another in the sky. He explained that each planet becoming visible provided a unique perspective on our place within the solar system and the universe. These celestial events occur when two or more planets appear close together in the sky, even though they are still incredibly far apart in reality.

Planetary conjunctions like this one happen every few years or so, but they become less common with each additional planet added to the alignment. The innermost planets – Mercury, Venus and Earth – align within 3.6 degrees every 39.6 years. However, for all eight planets in our solar system to align closely enough to be seen with the naked eye from Earth, it would take over 396 billion years – a phenomenon that has never occurred and will not happen again before our sun becomes a red giant.

If you want to witness a planetary alignment yourself, tools like Time and Date and Stellarium can help you find viewing dates and times based on your location. It’s an event that is sure to leave you amazed at just how small we are within this vast universe!