Since early June, the public can witness a rare phenomenon, where the planets Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are in an inline configuration.
This configuration or sky parade can be enjoyed in the early hours of June 4, 2022.
The first configuration consists of the alignment of Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on June 4-15, 2022.
Next, followed by a second configuration with the planetary arrangement Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon on June 16-27, 2022.
Then, it ends with a configuration with the same arrangement as the first, namely Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on June 28-30, 2022.
Andi explained that this configuration phenomenon can be witnessed for approximately 50 minutes according to the dawn time of each region. Starting from the start of the astronomical dawn with a sun height of -18° or 75 minutes before sunrise (around 04.30 local time), until dawn, which is when the sun's altitude is -6° or 25 minutes before sunrise (around 05.30 local time).
"From June 4 to 30, Mercury will have a brightness that varies between +2.06 to -0.61. This indicates that Mercury will get brighter until the end of June. While for Venus it varies, between -3.94 to - 3.89, which means it will be a bit dim at the end of June," explained Andi.
"Meanwhile, Uranus varies between +5.89 to +5.87, which means Uranus will be slightly brighter at the end of June. Similar to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which vary between +0.57 to +0, respectively. .47, -2.25 to -2.41, and +0.68 to +0.56," said Andi.
Andi said all of these phenomena can be witnessed without using optical aids, except for Uranus.
This is because the brightness is +4.7 than the maximum visual magnitude limit for urban areas, so a small telescope with a diameter of 10-25 cm is needed to view Uranus.
Andi added, to be able to see this phenomenon, it can be witnessed as long as the weather is bright enough, free from light pollution and the field of view is free from obstructions. In fact, for areas where light pollution is almost non-existent (sky conditions are absolutely clear), Uranus can be seen without using a telescope because its brightness is less than +6.5.