Rare parade of planets: See Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and the moon align in morning sky in late June

A series of planets will align in the early morning skies before sunrise through July 4, including Jupiter, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, the dwarf planet Pluto and the moon.

The rare parade of planets will occur only before sunrise, according to the Farmers’ Almanac, and will not be visible in the evening.

“The closest thing to a planet parade will be June 29, when Saturn, the moon, Mars, and Jupiter will line up across the morning sky,” NASA said.

While the planets Uranus and Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye, Jupiter will also be faint but might be visible low in the east, Mars up and to the right of Jupiter, and Saturn far off to the right of Mars, the Farmers’ Almanac reported .

Similarly, NASA reported that Jupiter is now visible low in the east before sunrise, and the planet will be visible around 10 degrees above the horizon, forming a line between Mars and Saturn that stretches toward the south.

Skywatchers with a professional telescope can view Uranus, Neptune, and the planet parade, which will appear in order from left to right: Jupiter, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn.

Interested skywatchers can view Saturn, the moon, Mars and Jupiter with the naked eye before sunrise, especially near June 29, NASA said. The planet parade will begin with Saturn as the first planet to rise above the eastern horizon around 1 a.m. Then Neptune will follow and rise about 30 minutes later, and the planet Mars around 3:30 a.m., which will be equal in brightness to Saturn but with a distinctly orange color. Then Uranus will grace the sky around 4 a.m. and Jupiter a little before 5 a.m., the Farmers Almanac said.

Also on tap: A once-in-a-lifetime nova

An impending nova event so bright it will be visible on Earth with the naked eye is poised to occur this summer, NASA says.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell , an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”

According to NASA, T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown some 3,000 light-years from Earth.

The system is comprised of a white dwarf and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor.

The hydrogen from the red giant accretes on the surface of the white dwarf, causing a buildup of pressure and heat and eventually triggers a thermonuclear explosion big enough to blast away that accreted material. For T CrB, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years, NASA says.

Don’t confuse a nova with a supernova, a final, titanic explosion that destroys some dying stars, Hounsell said. In a nova event, the dwarf star remains intact, sending the accumulated material hurtling into space in a blinding flash. The cycle typically repeats itself over time, a process which can carry on for tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

“There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system,” Hounsell said. “It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat.”

The T CrB nova was last seen from Earth in 1946; if the pattern continues, some researchers say, the nova event could occur by September.

What should stargazers look for? NASA says to watch for the Northern Crown, a horseshoe-shaped curve of stars west of the Hercules constellation, ideally spotted on clear nights. It can be identified by locating the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere — Arcturus and Vega — and tracking a straight line from one to the other, which will lead skywatchers to Hercules and the Corona Borealis.

The outburst will be brief. Once it erupts, it will be visible to the naked eye for a little less than a week — but Hounsell is confident it will be quite a sight to see.

More to watch for

• June 27: Look for the moon rising in the east with Saturn at about midnight. By dawn that morning, they will be high in the southern sky. They appear extremely close together — close enough to appear in the same field of view through binoculars.

Tribune News Service contributed to this report.