Rare Planetary Treat: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Mars and the Moon to Align After Lyrid Meteor Shower

Skywatchers may enjoy a planet-spotting party in the pre-dawn hours this week. Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn will be visible in a diagonal line after the Lyrid meteor shower.

The four planets will be visible early in the mornings before daybreak from Wednesday through early May. Sky gazers will be treated to the spectacle, according to The Independent.

How to See Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Mercury Soon

Before dawn, look for this cosmic group in the east-southeast sky. Planets are brighter and twinkle less than stars, so you can tell them apart. Jupiter will be at the bottom and farthest to the left, followed by Venus, Mars, and Saturn, which will trace an invisible line-up and to the right.

CNET said a smartphone application like Stellarium could be quite useful for detecting planets.

A fifth planet can be seen in the night sky, although not at the same time as the other four. Mercury is visible in the evening, but sets before the other planets rise in the morning.

As the moon decreases to a crescent, the quartet of worlds will reappear each morning for the remainder of the month. On successive evenings by the end of April, we'll witness this gleaming moon glide behind the line-up of planets. On April 25, it will highlight Saturn, Mars the next night, and both Jupiter and Venus on April 27.

Venus and Jupiter will continue to approach each other until April 30, when they will be virtually side-by-side. It's the closest they've been since 2016, and they'll probably be easier to spot this time due to their better placement in regard to the rising morning light.

What to Expect From Planetary Alignments

Although they appear to be lined up from Earth, these alignments - also known as planetary parades - are only visible from Earth and are not truly lined up in space.

In mid-June, Mercury will join the parade of planets.

They need time to rise as well, Sky News said. Since late March, Venus, Mars, and Saturn have been night-sky neighbors. In mid-April, Jupiter made the trio a quartet.

Mars will appear as an orange dot to the left and below Saturn, while Venus will appear as a brighter glow to the left and below Mars. Jupiter will be at its lowest point in the sky, to the left.

They will not twinkle, which distinguishes them from nearby stars.

Lyrid Meteor Shower

Meanwhile, the Lyrid meteor shower will light up the sky on Saturday morning, with up to 18 meteors per hour expected.

The celestial show will peak in the early hours of April 23 and be visible from around the sky, Daily Mail reported.

Meteor showers, often known as shooting stars, occur when small particles of debris known as meteorites reach the Earth's atmosphere at roughly 43 miles per second, burning up and producing light streaks.

The Lyrid shower gets its name from the constellation Lyra, which appears to be the source of the shooting stars.

These meteors are fragments of the Thatcher Comet, which is anticipated to return to the inner solar system in 2276 after a 415-year orbital period.

Like other meteor showers, you'll need to find a dark location with an unobstructed view of the sky to witness the Lyrids.

However, this year's Lyrids began on April 14, two days before the full Moon. They will peak on April 22-23, two days before the final quarter Moon, creating unfavorable conditions.

Suppose stargazers miss the show or simply can't get enough of the sky. In that case, there will still be enough to see on Sunday when Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and the Moon line up along the horizon.

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.