You could see four planets at once in the April sky — but you’ll need to get up early

The final week of April is going to be “thrilling” for skygazers, NASA said.

At the beginning of the month, three planets formed a trio in the southeast. Venus, Mars and Saturn were visible together just before sunrise, and Saturn moved closer to Mars every day.

By mid-month, another planet started to join them, and it’ll only get easier to see, according to NASA.

“Jupiter is starting to rise in the pre-dawn hour, making for a quartet of planets, strung out in a line across the morning sky,” NASA said.

During the final week of April, the planet will be high enough in the sky for people to really see it. The four planets will form a line that skywatchers can see at once.

“Of course, the planets are actually far apart in space, and only appear to move closer, or farther apart, in the sky as our view of them across the solar system changes from month to month,” NASA said.

On April 30, two of the planets will get even closer. Venus and Jupiter will form an “ultra-close conjunction.”

Something similar happened in 2020.

“If you recall the grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at the end of 2020, these conjunctions are not quite as close as that, but still really impressive and they’ll make for thrilling sights in the morning sky,” NASA said.

This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 12:14 PM with the headline "You could see four planets at once in the April sky — but you’ll need to get up early."