Early risers this month have been treated to an incredible and rare spectacle; the almost perfect alignment of four planets in the night sky.
It is not over yet. We will have the chance to see Venus and Jupiter in the early hours of April 30, 2022, as they appear to move incredibly close together from our vantage point.
According to NASA, the two planets will appear to be merging into one giant, glowing mass in the night sky.
NASA/Marshall
The sky looked east from Huntsville, Alabama, at 6 am on April 30.
The two objects can be seen more clearly with a telescope or binoculars. The planets will be 0.2 degrees apart at their closest approach.
The spectacle will be visible again in the early hours of May 1, but the position of the planets will be reversed.
The planets are not actually close to each other at all, but they will appear to line up from our view of the night sky here on Earth.
The planets will be more than four times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
It is more than likely that it would be pulled into Jupiter's orbit along with its other moons, which are larger than Mercury.
This is the second conjunction we have seen this month, after Mars and Saturn lined up at the beginning of April.
At the end of 2020 we witnessed the "Great Conjunction" between Venus and Saturn.
The April 30 meeting is still worth waking up early for, according to What's Up.
You will need to wake up early to view the conjunction between Venus and Jupiter.
The two planets will be visible in the early hours of the morning.
Venus will be at a magnitude -4, and Jupiter will be at a magnitude 2.1. The moon shines at -12.7 The event coincides with a new moon, so it will not be visible.
We have good news for those who don't get enough of our changing view of the Solar System. This year there will be an even bigger alignment.
On June 24, all of the planets of the Solar System will join together in an even grander planetary alignment.
The alignment will stretch out over a larger section of the sky, making it harder to see.
Major planetary alignments like this one, visible to the human eye, are very rare, and have only occurred three times since 2005, so you don't want to miss it.
If you don't like waking up early or skywatch, don't worry. There is a partial solar eclipse happening this week at the same time as the conjunction.
This happens when the Moon passes between us and the Sun. A maximum of 64 percent of the Sun's disk will be obscured in this partial solar eclipse.
The event will only be visible to those in parts of South America and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. You should be able to watch it from wherever you are in the world thanks to a livestream hosted by India-based space YouTube channel.
It's amazing how observing the movements of our Solar System neighbors can remind us that we are all just moving around on a big, water-laden rock. Enjoy!
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