Thursday 2 June 2022 01:10 PM Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky in rare ... trends now

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Early risers are in for a rare treat from tomorrow when five planets are set to align in a special way for the first time in 18 years.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will line up in order of their distance from the sun, as viewed from the northern hemisphere, and can be spotted in the pre-dawn sky all at once. 

It is not uncommon to see two or three planets close together, but this is the first time five of them can be viewed from Britain in this particular alignment since December 2004.

The 'planet parade' will make Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn visible with the nake eye in the southeastern pre-dawn sky.

Mercury will be the faintest and quite close to the horizon when the show starts tomorrow (June 3), before vanishing in the glare of sunrise, but it will be easier to spot as the month goes on.

Dr Greg Brown, the public astronomy officer at Royal Museums Greenwich, said of all the planets, it will be easiest to catch a glimpse of Venus and Jupiter.

Venus will emerge above the horizon from about 04:00 BST and Mars and Jupiter at around 02:45 BST.

Saturn, which rises above the horizon from about 01:30 BST, will be difficult to see at twilight, along with Mars, while the hardest to spot will be Mercury because it only rises at around 04:30 BST and remains close to the horizon.  

'Your only chance to see all five planets at the same time is during a very narrow window after Mercury has risen but before the sun has,' Brown told the Guardian.

'A pair of binoculars or a telescope may well be enough to overcome the twilight in the case of the fainter planets, but do be very careful when trying

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