Missouri – As the Fourth of July gets closer fireworks will start lighting up the night sky. This year the fireworks will not be the only thing you see. At the beginning of July, there will be another planet parade. Five of our planets, plus the moon, will be visible each morning before the sun rises.
At the beginning of the month, the planets were hard to see with the naked eye but this time the planets will be brighter and appear bigger than the earlier viewing. In the eastern sky, Jupiter, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn will all be visible right before sunrise. Uranus and Neptune may be more difficult to see and may require a pair of binoculars but they are visible enough that you won’t need a good-graded telescope.
Starting at 1 a.m. Saturn will become visible, followed by Neptune soon after around 1:30 a.m. Mars’s bright orange color will arrive at the parade at 3:30. If you look at the Framer’s Almanac, they claim that Mars will match Saturn in its brightness. Uranus will join the night sky around 4 a.m., followed by the stormy planet, Jupiter, a couple of minutes before 5 a.m.
With cloud coverage being heavier towards the weekend. Weather apps and others suggest viewing on June 28th and then again on July 1st through the 4th for the best visibility.
