Six Planets Align Over Earth in Stunning ‘Parade of Planets’ Image
A striking photo captures a recent “parade of planets,” featuring Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune aligned over Earth. Taken from the U.K. on June 1, the composite image shows this rare celestial event, along with the moon, in the early morning hours. Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured this moment from the Mendip Hills in Somerset.
The photo clearly shows Mars and Saturn near a crescent moon, while the more distant planets, not visible to the naked eye, were revealed through two composite long exposures. “Climbing Crooks Peak at 2 am was worth it,” Dury shared with Live Science. “Seeing each planet rise in succession was a fantastic experience, offering a profound sense of our place in the solar system.”
Planetary conjunctions like this occur when multiple planets appear close together in the sky from our perspective on Earth, though they remain far apart in space. While such alignments aren’t rare, the inclusion of more planets in the chain becomes increasingly uncommon. For example, Mercury, Venus, and Earth align within 3.6 degrees every 39.6 years, but for all eight planets to align closely, it would take an improbable 396 billion years, an event unlikely to occur before the sun becomes a red giant.
