Topline<\/p>\n
The \u201cplanet parade\u201d \u2014 mistakenly being called an alignment by many \u2014 continues on Monday, Aug. 18, with four planets visible to the naked eye an hour before sunrise. Uranus and Neptune will also be in the sky, making six planets in total, but neither of the gas giants will be visible to the naked eye. It\u2019s the rise of Mercury this week that effectively creates the \u201cplanet parade,\u201d although arguably, it\u2019s the presence of a beautiful waning crescent moon that makes the sight worth getting up early for.<\/p>\n
From Aug. 17\u201321, a spectacular \u201cplanet parade\u201d (also called an alignment) features the moon and six planets.<\/p>\n
gettyKey Facts<\/p>\n
A 26%-lit waning crescent moon will shine high above Jupiter and Venus in the eastern sky about an hour before sunrise. <\/p>\n
Venus will be the brightest planet, with Jupiter just above it, the next brightest. Above these two planets will be the crescent moon, while below will be Mercury, which will be easiest to see closer to sunrise. <\/p>\n
Saturn, visible in the southern sky, is now close to its annual bright \u201copposition\u201d on Sept. 21, when Earth will be between Saturn and the sun. As a consequence, it will be at its biggest, brightest and best. <\/p>\n
If you plan to rise early this week once to view the \u201cplanet parade,\u201d go for Wednesday, Aug. 20, when a slim crescent moon will be very close to Venus \u2014 a beautiful sight. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s over three years until the next impressive \u201cplanet parade,\u201d when in October 2028, five planets will be visible together again before sunrise.<\/p>\n
Monday, August 18: \u2018Planet Parade\u2019 And A Crescent Moon<\/p>\n
StellariumWhat\u2019s Next In The \u2018planet Parade\u2019<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Aug. 19, the waning crescent moon will have sunk a little lower in the sky and be approaching Jupiter and Venus. At 16%-lit, it will begin to display \u201cEarthshine\u201d \u2014 sunlight reflected onto the lunar surface by Earth\u2019s ice caps, oceans and clouds. Although it depends on where you watch from, Mercury will be at its apparent farthest from the sun on Tuesday, Aug. 19, so it will be one of the best mornings to see the \u201cSwift Planet,\u201d which orbits the sun in just 88 days and is mostly lost in its glare from Earth\u2019s point of view. However, arguably, the highlight of the \u201cplanet parade\u201d this week will come on Wednesday, Aug. 20, when a 9%-lit crescent moon will appear very close to Venus.<\/p>\n
The Orion constellation rises over a hill through high thin clouds near Black Mesa, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
gettyThe Stars Of Orion<\/p>\n
Skywatchers gazing at the \u201cplanet parade\u201d will likely notice some familiar stars on the right-hand side of Venus, Jupiter and the moon. One of the most iconic and easily recognizable of all the winter constellations in the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is visible right now before sunrise because the sun recently passed through that part of the sky in May and June. The most obvious shape is Orion\u2019s Belt \u2014 three stars (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka) in a straight line \u2014with red giant Betelgeuse roughly between the belt stars and Jupiter. On the other side of the belt star is the bright blueish star Rigel. If you stay up long enough to see Mercury rising, look to the right for Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. The stars of Orion\u2019s Belt will point directly at it as it appears on the eastern horizon close to sunrise.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Next In The Night Sky<\/p>\n
Mercury will gradually disappear from the pre-dawn sky as it continues its speedy journey around the sun, leaving Saturn, Jupiter and Venus as the only planets visible to the naked eye. Skywatching highlights in September include Saturn at its biggest, brightest and best as it reaches its annual \u201copposition” on Sept. 21, a total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7 for those in Asia, Africa and western Australia, a stunning view of a waning crescent moon, Venus and bright star Regulus on Sept. 19, and a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21 for the Pacific Ocean. <\/p>\n
Further ReadingForbes\u2018Planet Parade\u2019 Myths Debunked And How To Truly See It \u2014 By A StargazerBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesYour Ultimate Guide To Meteor Showers And The Perseids \u2014 By An ExpertBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesNASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears \u2014 15 Places To GoBy Jamie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline The \u201cplanet parade\u201d \u2014 mistakenly being called an alignment by many \u2014 continues on Monday, Aug. 18,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,57832,17264,55509,55508,55506,55505,57831,55507,55504,128,285,12820],"class_list":{"0":"post-75196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-full-moon","11":"tag-jupiter","12":"tag-mercury","13":"tag-moon-and-planets","14":"tag-planet-alignment","15":"tag-planet-parade-2025","16":"tag-planets-alignment-when","17":"tag-planets-august-2025","18":"tag-planets-tonight","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-space","21":"tag-venus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}