'Planetary parade' likely just partially visible to Long Island stargazers

Long Island skywatchers looking toward the heavens early Monday morning, anxious to get a glance at the so-called “parade of planets” may find the eye-catching solar system alignment is just a bit out of this world.

In the predawn hours of June 3, six planets — Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn — will align in the sky and technically be visible from Earth, experts say.

But the awe-inspiring phenomenon may land with a cosmic thud as only Mars and Saturn, along with the crescent moon, are expected to be visible to the naked eye, and even they will likely be quite dim in the sky.

Mercury and Jupiter will be too low and close to the horizon at sunrise to be visible, while Uranus and Neptune can potentially be glimpsed with a telescope or high-powered binoculars.

“In terms of visual observing, this 'planet parade' doesn’t amount to much,” said Ken Spencer, president of the Astronomical Society of Long Island, who added that Uranus and Neptune, viewed through a telescope near the horizon, are likely to appear distorted because they're seen through more of Earth's atmosphere. “It sounds interesting to list all the planets that will be there, but if you can only see two of them, then it is not much of a parade, unfortunately. It won’t be impressive.”

A planetary parade — when several planets align on the right side of the sun in the same ecliptic plane, making them visible across a narrow band of the sky — is not altogether uncommon and typically happens a few times per year, experts said.

But having five or more planets visible at once is somewhat more unusual.

“While it is true that the planets will be in 'alignment,' the phrase is generally misconstrued,” said Jason Cousins, president of the Amateur Observers’ Society of New York, which meets at Hofstra University and the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City. 

“The planets are always in 'alignment' as they travel in a line apparent to us on Earth. This line is called the ecliptic, the plane in which the Earth orbits our star or sun,” Cousin said. “The other planets in our solar system all orbit on the same plane, a byproduct of how our solar system was formed. By virtue of this fact, to us, all our planets move along this line.”

Experts suggest the planetary parade may pale in comparison to the spectacle of the April 8 solar eclipse that wowed Long Islanders.

But stargazers won't have too wait long for the next celestial marvel.

The annual Perseids meteor shower is expected to peak between the late evening hours of Aug. 12 and before dawn on Aug. 13.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.