Space activity has begun this month, with two meteor showers and the historic Artemis II mission, which returned humans to the moon and crashed to Earth on Friday.
Stargazers looking for more to do in April have several things to do, including a planetarium show where four planets — Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune — are scheduled to be in the sky at the same time.
The small parade starts around Thursday, April 16, and lasts until the end of the month. All the planets will be relatively close to each other on the eastern horizon just before sunrise each day. To watch the parade, you will need to sleep almost all night or wake up very early in the morning. And it is better to take a telescope.
Four planets will be visible just before sunrise on the eastern horizon.
The best time to watch it depends on where you are. If you’re at a higher altitude, try just before 6am local time. If you are at sea level, wait for the planets to appear above the horizon just after 6 am local time. The planets will be chased by the sun quickly, giving viewers a small window to see all four planets before sunrise.
Since sunrise varies by location, you may have 40 minutes or 20 minutes to see all four planets. You’ll want to check local sunrise times to see if you have enough time to see all four before sunrise.
Neptune will not be visible to the naked eye, but it will be close to the other three planets.
The sun’s proximity to the small window makes April’s planet one of the most difficult to see, according to Geza Gyuk, executive director of astronomy at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium.
“Mercury, as always, is close to the sun and difficult to see,” Gyuk told me. “Since Mars and Saturn will be closer to Mercury, it will also be difficult to see them outside of the very low eastern atmosphere.”
The best days to try to see the planet show are between Saturday, April 18 and Friday, April 24. Before those days, Saturn is a little closer to the sun and rises late on the horizon, and after them, Mercury begins to drift closer to the sun.
Get out (or borrow) a pair of binoculars
Skygazers need at least a telescope to see all four planets, as Neptune is invisible to the naked eye.
Even using a telescope, Gyuk says it takes some skill to pick out Neptune in the night sky. He recommends taking binoculars as well, as it will make the other three planets more easily visible. But he warns skygazers to be careful not to look directly at the sun while using them.
The general rules of stargazing apply: You’ll have better luck moving away from light pollution, so leave the city and underground areas for the best view.
The chance to see four planets in the sky at the same time, and so close together, is very rare. Gyuk says astronomers don’t usually refer to these events as star parades — instead they call them “planetary alignments” — but they also rarely pass up an opportunity to view the planets in a unique way like this one.
“I always try to catch at least a little whenever this kind of planetary alignment happens,” Gyuk said. “I’m happy about that.”
