Beginning this week, we will be able to see a diagonal line of planets in the sky, which will be a rare event. If you are a skywatcher like me, you don’t want to miss this.
Throughout the month, Mars, Venus, and Saturn have all been in visible alignment during the pre-dawn hours, however, this week, Jupiter will join in. You don’t need any special equipment for viewing, so as long as you can find an area that is dimly lit – you will be able to see the show.
While Venus has an orbit of around 225 days, Saturn takes 29 years, which makes this extremely rare.
“By midmonth, Jupiter is starting to rise in the pre-dawn hour, making for a quartet of planets, strung out in a line across the morning sky,” NASA says.
According to EarthSky, the planets “will be stretched out in a diagonal line spanning just over 30 degrees,” by Tuesday.
And making this event even better, the moon will join the lineup around the 23rd, providing an even longer lineup.
To differentiate between the stars and planets, remember that planets don’t twinkle like stars. To see the show, you will need to find a dark space in the pre-dawn hours (a few hours before sunrise.) And if you’d like to enhance your view – be sure to bring some binoculars. But they aren’t needed to just see the planets.
This alignment will continue throughout the rest of the month until April 30. And this will be the closest Venus and Jupiter have been since 2016!
This won’t be the only alignment taking place this year, as USA Today reports that during June through July, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will also appear to the lineup in the night sky. However, if you can see both, it’s highly suggested.