Watch the moon next to 4 planets lined up in the pre-dawn sky – teach me about science

During the previous days We have seen a very beautiful planetary alignment, 4 planets shine in the sky before dawn and the moon has just been added. If you take a look at the sky before sunlight gets in the way, you can see with the naked eye: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Moon.

It’s a special occasion, because it doesn’t happen often. If you have a chance don’t miss it. The four planets appear in alignment and the moon is accompanied by Saturn. This means that you can see a planetary alignment and conjunction between the Moon and Saturn at the same time.

From time to time, the relative position of the stars in the sky is shown in alignment from the Earth, so that a line can be drawn between them. Of course that’s only from our point of view, and it rarely happens with multiple planets. On the other hand, conjugation refers to the proximity of two or more celestial bodies in the celestial vault. By themselves, all of these objects would appear to be shining up close, although they are only apparent because they are in fact separated by even hundreds of millions of kilometers.

How do you see it and in what direction? First of all, take into account the weather conditions, you need a clear sky and free of light pollution to enjoy the events to the fullest. Secondly, given the path of the celestial bodies and the time of their sunrise and sunset, you can help yourself with a program or a mobile application. Here you have a long list of apps for astronomy lovers.

If you are ready with the above, the next only thing is to see in East and southeast direction before dawn. fromand anywhere. Much of the hemispheres can be seen, although southern observers have a little better luck, as the planets will be visible much earlier (about two hours before sunrise). But in general, you can go out to see an hour before sunrise.

We have highlighted 4 conjunctions in “Teach Me Science” for this month. Starting tomorrow, April 24th: conjunction of the Moon and Saturn. At 20:56 GMT, the Moon and Saturn will come together to form a conjunction in the constellation Capricorn. The objects will be placed at a distance of 4.6 degrees from each other, with our satellite’s natural brightness at -11.5, and Saturn on the 0.6 scale. Since they will be far from each other, you won’t be able to see them at the same time with a telescope, but you can with the naked eye.

This is one of the best night sky shows this month. But it’s just the beginning, as the lineup will be bigger by the middle of the year. Five planets, visible to the naked eye, are set to line up and cruise across the sky this summer in an unusual alignment blessed by moonlight. Aligning the five visible planets without the aid of telescopes is very rare, and the last time it happened was in 2020 and before that in 2016 and 2005. Stay tuned for our section of astronomy So you don’t miss anything. a clear sky!