On Saturday (April 23), four worlds will align with the moon, and it will be worth getting up early to catch the show.
The moon will be in its last-quarter phase just to the right of ringed Saturn, and you can see three more worlds with your naked eye if you know where to look. Mars will appear as an orangey dot below and to the left of Saturn. The bright Venus will appear more to the left, followed by gigantic Jupiter at the group’s far left end.
According to Sky & Telescope, most of these worlds will be quite brilliant, particularly Venus (magnitude -4.4), Mars (magnitude 1.1), and Saturn (0.9). Given dark enough conditions, most individuals can see stars as low as magnitude 6 in the night sky.
Most of these worlds may be seen in greater detail using binoculars or a telescope. With most telescopes, you can probably see Saturn’s rings and some of Jupiter’s moons, for example. Venus will seem featureless but much brighter since it will be enveloped in clouds. Mars may have a tiny roughness visible through the largest amateur telescopes.
Check out our best binoculars and best telescopes guides if you want to see planets in the night sky using binoculars or a telescope. If you need photography equipment, check out our top astrophotography cameras and finest astrophotography lenses to get ready for the next planet sight.
Many planetary and lunar alignments like this one are rare. All of these worlds visible to the naked eye orbit in the same general plane of the solar system, called the ecliptic.
In fact, we’ll be lucky enough to observe a more uncommon alignment of five planets alongside the moon later this summer. The optimum time to go will be in late June or early July. According to Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, such alignments only happen every few years, and the last time they did was in 2020 and, before that, in 2016 and 2005.
The first planet to rise over the horizon will be Saturn. Mars, Venus, and Jupiter will all come after it. Mars will appear as a reddish-orange speck below and to the left of Saturn, while Venus will shine brightly beneath and to Mars’ left. Jupiter, the largest of the planets, will be at its lowest point in the sky, to the left. The Moon will appear to the south of Saturn, just to the right of it.
A pair of binoculars or a small telescope will allow you to see Saturn’s famed rings and Jupiter’s four largest moons, though no additional equipment is required. Neptune is also on the list, but only a strong telescope will be able to see its blue-is ice distant world.
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When Venus and Jupiter, the Solar System’s brightest planets, align on April 30, 2022, the celestial spectacle will be even more spectacular. A conjunction happens when two celestial objects appear to be close to one other due to the way their orbits line up with Earth. Despite being hundreds of millions of kilometers separated in space, Venus and Jupiter will look to Earth as a single dazzling star.
While the Moon will only be visible above the horizon until April 29, 2022, the four planets will be aligned for a few months. Mercury will join them in mid-June, and until early July, the five planets will be visible in the pre-dawn sky.
When the planets’ orbits around the Sun cause them to be in the same region of the sky when viewed from Earth, this is known as a planetary alignment. The last time the five planets aligned was in 2020, and the next time won’t be until June 22, 2040 – so take advantage of it while you still can!
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