The Predawn Hours is hosting a planet-watching party for skywatchers this week. Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn will be visible in a diagonal line, connected by a waning crescent moon.
Before sunrise, look for this cosmic band in the sky between east and southeast. You can usually distinguish between planets and stars because they are brighter and less glittery. Jupiter will be lowest and furthest to the left, followed by Venus, Mars and Saturn drawing an invisible line moving up and to the right.
To help discover planets, an app like Stellarium can be very useful.
A fifth planet also appears in the night sky, but not at the same time. Mercury can be seen in the evening, but will be out before others show up in the morning.
The quartet of realms will appear every morning for the rest of the month as the moon shrinks in the sky. Over the coming nights we will see this smiling moon slip beneath the arrangement of planets on successive nights. It confirms Saturn on April 25, Mars the following night, and it confirms Jupiter and Venus on April 27.
Venus and Jupiter will continue to get so close that they will “almost collide” in mid-air on April 30, According to NASA† In fact, this is the closest appearance since 2016 and will likely be easier to spot this time around due to its more favorable locations in relation to the rising morning sun.
Of course, the planets are not really in danger of colliding because they are in fact millions of miles away. It seems close from our perspective on the ground. If Venus were to get anywhere near Jupiter, it would likely be pulled by the gas giant’s gravity and eventually swallow it. That is, if it is not destroyed, because it is first pelted by dozens of Jupiter’s moons.
This would make for a really rare and terrifying view in the night sky if it did.
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