Early risers in Brunei can catch the Great Planet Parade this week until end of June.

The phenomenon happens when all the planets in the Solar System gather at the same time on one side of the sun and on the night side of the Earth in June 2022.

As the planets move on a plane of the solar system known as ecliptic, it creates a line up crossing our night sky.

The five bright planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn – and the Moon will line up and all visible together to the naked eyes in the coming weeks.

Unobstructed horizon is required to observe Mercury as the planet is positioned very low in the Eastern sky.

Uranus & Neptune will also be in the alignment but seeing them with the naked eye is difficult. You’ll require a telescope to locate them in the night sky.

June 26, 2022 will be a special moment when the crescent Moon close to the brilliant Venus and the bright Seven Sisters (Pleiades- M45) star cluster in the constellation Taurus at dawn.

The planetary parade should be easily visible to the unaided eye if the weather is clear, and sky watchers do not need to use binoculars or a telescope to observe the celestial spectacles.

It is possible to capture decent photos of the astronomical phenomena with today’s smartphones on a tripod. Share your snaps and get them featured by tagging #bruneiastronomy on your stories.

These uncommon phenomena of all-planet parade had happened in March 1982, July 2020, and the next one is predicted in May 2161.

Use our new interactive sky map (www.bruneiastronomy.org/skymap) to locate the planets and stars in our sky.

Photo Gallery

Recently a rare Mars occultation had occurred, where the red planet disappeared behind the crescent of the Moon. The phenomenon was only visible from a small region in Asia,
including Brunei Darussalam.

Astronomical experts and enthusiasts from the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD), armed with telescopes, binoculars and cameras took the opportunity to hold a viewing event for its members at the beach front of The Empire Brunei in Jerudong.

PABD Treasurer-General Shaiful Bahri bin Haji Ahmad offered an Islamic point of view of this occurance. “This phenomenon only occurs every 77 years,” he said.

This, he said, is one of Allah the Almighty’s magnificence.

“This is the beauty of the course of the precise movement and rules of stars and planets set by Allah the Almighty.

“The rules set by Allah the Almighty for the course of these planets are precise and beautiful, and each planet has its own course.”

Executive committee member of PABD Nurbazilah binti Zainal Abidin said there was a moment of panic when some clouds appeared to obstruct the view, but thankfully cleared just in time for the event.

During the spectacle, from the naked eye, Mars looked like a bright ‘red star’ close to the Moon at around 8pm. It got interestingly closer to the Moon by 9pm before disappearing at 9.29pm.

The PABD said that an occultation is an astronomical phenomenon when one object is obscured by another object that passes between it and the observer.

Mars slipped behind the Moon’s dark side and was visible to the naked eye. From Brunei, the Moon was very low on the horizon. Lunar gazers had to be at a location with an unobstructed view of the Western sky.

Since the Moon is the nearest cosmic neighbour to Earth, it regularly passes in front of planets or bright stars. But an occultation by the Moon and Mars from the same location on Earth is an exceedingly rare occurrence. It is often described as a “perfect planet alignment”.

The last Mars occultation that occurred in Brunei was in May 2008.

The next one is set to take place 77 years later, on February 7, 2098.

The Moon will pass in front of Mars, creating a lunar occultation visible from only small region of central Asia including Brunei Darussalam.

An occultation is an astronomical phenomenon when one object is obscured by another object that passes between it and the observer.

The celestial spectacle will occur at exactly 9:29 p.m from Brunei when the Moon quickly covers Mars up.

The bright planet Mars will slip behind the moon’s dark side and will be visible to the naked eyes. From Brunei, the Moon will be very low on the horizon during the event, and lunar gazer must be at location with unobstructed view of the Western sky.

Occultation Rarity

Since the Moon is our nearest cosmic neighbor, it regularly passes in front of planets or bright stars in the sky. But occultations by the Moon and Mars from the same location on Earth is exceedingly a rare occurrence. It is often described as “perfect planet alignment” which is rare occurance.

During the eight millennium period 2000BC – 6000AD, somewhere on the Earth will experience a total of 118,243 occultations of the planets. In the case for Mars occultation, the average is about 2 occultations per year around the world.

The Previous Mars occultation from Brunei happened in May 2008. The next similar occurrence in Brunei is set to take place 77 years later, on February 7, 2098.

Press Release

How large the planets appear in the sky, as seen through a telescope? This photograph of the planets taken last night shows the actual apparent size for comparison, measured in arcseconds (“).

The following table shows the planets apparent size as seem from the ground telescopes. Notice that the size varies depending on the planets’ distance from the Earth because all the planets orbit the Sun on different elliptical paths.

These stunning photos show the three planets and the earth’s moon all shining brightly in day light, even after sunrise.

You can still see the moon shine with the planets at best before dawn this week.

Join our Group discussion and share your cosmic photo moments via Telegram t.me/bruneiastronomy or WhatsApp www.bruneiastronomy.org/wa

Photos by Hazarry @zrryahmad of PABD

The largest planet Jupiter with its four Jovian moons and the red planet Mars visibly fit in the same FOV of a small telescope (about 0.7° separation).

These photos of planetary conjunction were taken by Hazarry from Kampong Keriam.

Bandar Seri Begawan – These are some of exciting and not to be missed cosmic events visible in Brunei to look up next week.

March 18 until March 20, 2020: Three bright planets – Mars, Jupiter and Saturn- will join the crescent moon to form a cosmic cluster in the Eastern sky at dawn from Brunei Darussalam.

Friday and Saturday dawn (March 19 and 20): Mars and the gas giant Jupiter will be in close conjunction when both planets are less than 1° apart. They are very close enough (0.7 degree separation) to both fit into the same field of view with a telescope or binocular.

Friday, March 20, 2020: The earliest vernal equinox is at 11:51 am since 1896. It occurs when the sun passes directly over the equator and day and night have the same length.

Hopefully, weather will cooperate for this cosmic conjunction.

Bandar Seri Begawan – People of Brunei will have the opportunity to name a selected exoplanet and its host star to commemorate the 100th-anniversary celebration of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Currently there are a total of more than 4,000 confirmed planets that orbit stars outside the solar system known as exoplanets. Most of these exoplanets have no proper names. 

NameExoWorlds offers the opportunity for all countries in the world including Brunei Darussalam to give a name to one exoplanet and its hosting star.

On August 2, 2019, Brunei Darussalam was assigned with a planetary system by IAU to be given appropriate names of a giant gaseous planet (HD 179949b) and its star HD 179949 located in the constellation of Sagittarius.

For the first time, NameExoWorlds for Brunei Darussalam is organised by the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam as the IAU National Outreach Coordinator to run this campaign from August 2019, with the support from relevant agencies.

The program was launched on August 4 via online by Haji Mahadi bin Haji Md Tahir, President of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) which was declared in a special announcement on the society’s Facebook page.

Haji Mahadi said “This global initiative will provide the opportunity for Bruneians to name the star and the planet, where the selected name suggestions will be memorialized for our future generations.”

Proposed names can be submitted to the committee from August 10 until October 10, 2019 through online form www.bruneiastronomy.org/NameExoWorlds

Names will be chosen by public online voting carried out in this country. The popular names and after final validation by the Organising Committee, the global results will be announced in December 2019. The chosen names will be recognized by IAU as official names.