April 2022: Last Chance To See The Planetary Alignment
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If you're an astronomy enthusiast, the coming two months will be the most exciting.
Five planets, a comet, and an asteroid are going to align in the early skies of April and May.
It's a great chance to see the planets with naked eyes and photograph this celestial parade.
However, the planetary alignment is not the only event to look forward to in the coming
couple of months. As the planets arrange themselves in a straight line configuration
as seen from the Earth, they will end up in close conjunctions with other planets.
In this video, I'll be telling you all the important dates that you must keep in mind.
Before we start, make sure you download any one of the space apps given in the description.
They'll surely help you locate all the planets quickly according to your place.
The first important date to look forward to is March 28th.
On this day, the Moon will pass close to the triangle formed by Venus, Mars, and Saturn.
The brightest of the three planets will be Venus at a magnitude of minus 4.22,
followed by Saturn at 0.86, and Mars at 1.09.
An apparent magnitude is a number that describes the brightness of a celestial object.
The smaller the number, the brighter the object.
The concept has been explained in detail in our 30-article Basics of Astrophysics series.
All four celestial objects will be in Capricornus.
Look for them in the southeast direction in the predawn sky.
The Moon will be 26 days old.
You must be familiar with Orion's Belt, an asterism comprising three stars in a line.
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka, in the constellation Orion.
On April 1st, you'll see a roughly identical configuration formed by Mars, Saturn, and Venus.
The three planets will almost come in a straight line, with Saturn in the middle.
After a close approach with Venus in the last week of March,
Saturn is now heading for close conjunction with Mars.
This is going to be epic.
It will be the first notable conjunction on the way to planetary alignment.
Mars and Saturn will be just 19 arc minutes apart in the southeastern predawn sky of April 5th.
Saturn will be at a magnitude of 0.7 and Mars at 1, both in the constellation Capricornus.
The pair will be close enough to fit within the field of view of a telescope,
but will also be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.
After April 5th, the angular separation between Mars and Saturn will increase,
with Saturn gaining altitude in the dawn sky.
Jupiter will start emerging from behind the Sun in these two weeks
and become an early morning object.
It will be too close to Neptune.
April 16th-24th will be a good week to see the five planets align.
Venus will be the brightest, followed by Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Neptune.
Comet 22P Cov will be close to Mars and the asteroid Vesta will be close to Saturn, as shown.
Although April 16th-24th is an excellent period to see the planet parade,
make sure you don't miss April 24th specifically, as the 23-day old moon joins the party.
The moon will eclipse the Sun a week later on April 30th.
After the first round of planet parade,
Jupiter will gain altitude in the pre-dawn sky and pass close to Venus.
They will be just 13.8 arcminutes of each other.
Although this is double the separation compared to the 2020 Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn,
this planetary conjunction is unique,
because Jupiter and Venus are two of the brightest planets in the solar system, as seen from Earth.
During the Great Conjunction, the two planets had an apparent magnitude of minus 1.82 and plus 0.64.
In the upcoming Jupiter-Venus conjunction,
the two will have an apparent magnitude of minus 1.96 and minus 4.
Hence, Jupiter and Venus will produce an even more spectacular view in the dawn sky
that will be easily visible with naked eyes.
After the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, the five planets will realign,
but the order will be, starting from the horizon, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, and Saturn.
Jupiter will then go further up and form a planetary conjunction with Mars on May 29th.
If you happen to miss the planet parade on a particular day due to bad weather,
there's no need to worry, as a specific alignment will last more than a day.
The conjunctions, however, will be one-time events.
If you enjoyed this video, make sure you like it and share it with someone who loves astronomy.
Also, download the space apps given in the description to locate the planets quickly.