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Space activity picked up this month, with Two meteor showers And historical Artemis II The mission that returned humans to the moon and landed on Earth last Friday.
Stargazers have a few other things coming up in April, including a planetary display where four planets — Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune — appear in the sky at the same time.
The mini-show began on Thursday, April 16, and will run until almost the end of the month. The four planets will be relatively close to each other on the eastern horizon before sunrise each day. To watch the show, you will need to stay up almost all night or get up very early. Better grab a telescope.
The four planets will be visible before sunrise on the eastern horizon.
The best time to watch it depends on where you are. If you’re at a higher elevation, try before 6 a.m. local time. If you’re at sea level, wait until the planets appear above the horizon after 6 a.m. local time. The sun will quickly chase the planets, giving viewers a narrow window to view the four planets before sunrise.
Since sunrise varies by location, you may have as little as 40 minutes or as little as 20 minutes to see the four planets. You’ll need to check your local sunrise times to see if you have enough time to catch the four times before sunrise.
Neptune will not be visible with the naked eye, but it will be close to the other three planets.
The close proximity to the sun and narrow window make April’s planetary display one of the most difficult to see, according to Gésa Jueck, senior director of astronomy at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
“Mercury, as always, is close to the sun and difficult to see,” Geok told me. “Since Mars and Saturn will be close to Mercury, it will also be difficult to see them without a very low eastern horizon.”
The best days to try to see the planet’s view are between Saturday, April 18 and Friday, April 24. Before those dates, Saturn is slightly close to the Sun and rises late above the horizon, and after them, Mercury begins to drift precariously close to the Sun.
Get out (or borrow) a telescope
Skygazers need at least a telescope to see the four planets, as Neptune is not visible to the naked eye.
Even with a telescope, Geock says capturing Neptune in the night sky requires some skill. He recommends using binoculars as well, as it will make seeing the other three planets easier. But he warns skygazers to be careful not to look directly at the sun while using it.
The usual stargazing rules apply: You’ll have better luck away from light pollution, so leave the city and suburbs for the best view.
The chance of seeing four planets in the sky at the same time, very close to each other, is not very common. Astronomers don’t tend to refer to these events as planetary parades — they call them “planetary alignments” — but they rarely pass up the opportunity to see planets in unique configurations like these, Geoke says.
“I always try to at least take a look when this kind of planetary alignment happens,” Geok said. “It’s exciting for me.”