All seven planets will be above the horizon at the same time, shortly before sunrise. However, Mercury and Jupiter will be quite tricky to see since they will rise very shortly before the Sun. To see them you will need to have a flat eastern horizon, clear of obstructions such as buildings or trees. At sunrise, they will have altitudes of 14.2° and 14.1° respectively.
The planets Neptune and Uranus are too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, and a pair of binoculars or a small telescope is needed to see them. Additionally, since they are no brighter than many stars, a finder-chart is needed to show their positions relative to the surrounding stars. Neptune will lie in the constellation of Sagittarius shining at magnitude 8.0; you can find a chart of its position here. Uranus will lie in the constellation of Ophiuchus shining at magnitude 5.7; you can find a chart of its position here.
It is relatively rare for all of the planets to be aligned in one hemisphere so as to all be above the horizon at the same moment. Such an alignment between the five planets which are visible to the unaided eye happens roughly once every 6 years, while an alignment that also includes Uranus and Neptune, which require binoculars or a telescope to be seen, happens around once every 70 years.
However, since the planets in the outer solar system – especially Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – move quite slowly through the constellations, such alignments can occur multiple times in quick succession, or not at all for over 100 years.
The positions of all the planets at sunrise will be as follows:
| Planet | Altitude at sunrise |
Direction at sunrise |
Planet rises at |
Mag | Constellation |
| Mercury | 14.2° | south-east | 05:37 | -0.2 | Sagittarius |
| Jupiter | 14.1° | south-east | 05:33 | -1.8 | Sagittarius |
| Neptune | 14.5° | south-east | 05:33 | 8.0 | Sagittarius |
| Venus | 20.9° | south-east | 04:39 | -4.1 | Ophiuchus |
| Uranus | 22.6° | south-east | 04:15 | 5.7 | Ophiuchus |
| Saturn | 34.6° | south | 01:54 | 0.4 | Libra |
| Mars | 36.2° | south | 00:52 | 1.2 | Virgo |
Celestial coordinates
The positions of each of the planets will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Venus | 16h41m | 20°20'S | Ophiuchus | -4.1 | 14"3 |
| Jupiter | 18h01m | 23°08'S | Sagittarius | -1.8 | 31"4 |
| Mercury | 18h32m | 21°58'S | Sagittarius | -0.2 | 6"6 |
| Saturn | 14h48m | 13°52'S | Libra | 0.4 | 16"0 |
| Mars | 13h26m | 7°20'S | Virgo | 1.2 | 5"6 |
| Uranus | 16h41m | 22°09'S | Ophiuchus | 5.7 | 3"5 |
| Neptune | 18h01m | 22°16'S | Sagittarius | 8.0 | 2"1 |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
Next/previous occurrences
| « Previous | Objects simultaneously visible | Next » |
| – | All seven planets | 16 Jun 2022 |
| 26 Feb 1982 | All five planets that are visible to the unaided eye |
21 Oct 1986 |
The sky on 20 Apr 2024
| The sky on 20 April 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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92% 12 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
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| 02 Apr 1984 | – Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 02 Apr 1984 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
Image credit
The Moon in conjunction with Venus and Jupiter, with the Very Large Telescope in the foreground. Image © Y. Beletsky, ESO, 2009.