As astronomers spend the late nights watching Lyrid’s meteor showers this week, early morning people will be lucky to catch another phenomenon: Four planets in our solar system will appear lined up in the sky.
At the beginning of the month, Mars, Venus, and Saturn are all visible in the early morning. Now this trio is joined by Jupiter, and the four planets can be seen with the naked eye in a straight line for the rest of April, as long as the city lights don’t intrude.
The reason for this rare event: the alignment of all orbits of the planet around the sun. Venus’ orbit around the sun is 225 Earth days, while Saturn’s is 29 Earth years.
The pairing can be seen all over the world before dawn in the morning towards the east or towards the sunrise.
“In the middle of the month, Jupiter begins to rise before dawn, forming a quadruple of planets, lined up in the morning sky,” NASA said.
Those in the Northern Hemisphere will see all four planets on the horizon. EarthSky.org reported All planets will “stretch out in a diagonal line that extends just over 30 degrees” by Tuesday. From bottom left to top right, astronomers can find: Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
People in the Southern Hemisphere will see planets lined up on the horizon. From the horizon to the north you can find: Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
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As the month draws to a close, the moon will join the conjunction, appearing under each of the planets from April 25 to 27, According to Space.com. On April 30, Venus and Jupiter appear to be heading on a collision course. The distance between them will be about 0.45 degrees in the sky before they begin to separate.
The alignment comes after Jupiter and Saturn met together in December 2020 in the “Great Conjunction”, when they appeared to be the closest since the Middle Ages.
It wouldn’t be the only time you could spot multiple planets at once this year. From late June to early July, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will appear in the early morning sky.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
