Four planets should appear aligned in the early morning sky next week, but get ready to see this before the sun rises.
On the morning of April 17, Mercury, Venus, Neptune and Saturn will take part in a planetary alignment, also known as a planetary parade, according to the website StarWalk.
These four planets are all expected to be visible high above the eastern horizon in the Southern Hemisphere, the website stated. They should be spotted while it’s still dark, one hour before sunrise.
Of these four planets, Neptune should be the only one that requires binoculars or a telescope to see it, StarWalk explained. The dimmest of the four planets in the alignment, Neptune should be at a magnitude 7.9 and should be positioned near Mercury.
A celestial object’s stellar magnitude describes how bright that object looks in the night sky, with the brightest stars being seen at a magnitude of 1, EarthSky reported. Objects with a negative magnitude appear much brighter without the need for a telescope, according to NASA.
Mercury should be visible near the horizon at magnitude 0.5, according to StarWalk. Venus should be the brightest, at magnitude -4.7, and should appear higher in the sky than the other planets in the alignment. Saturn should be below it and slightly dimmer at magnitude 1.2.
Of the four planets taking part in the alignment, Venus is the only one visible in the Northern Hemisphere, StarWalk stated. The parade as a whole will be extremely difficult to see north of the equator. To find the planets in the alignment, StarWalk recommends using its StarWalk 2 app by using the “Planet Walk” feature that tracks the planets’ locations in space.
