Wednesday, April 15, 2026
A morning planet dance 16-23 April, 2026
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| Eastern horizon on the morning of Thursday, April 16 as seen from Adelaide at 5:44 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). The Crescent Moon, Mercury, Mars and Saturn for a triangle approximately one hand-span across low to the horizon. | Eastern horizon on the morning of Sunday, April 19 as seen from Adelaide at 5:48 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury, Mars and Saturn for a triangle low to the horizon. |
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| Eastern horizon on the morning of Monday, April 20 as seen from Adelaide at 5:48 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury, Mars and Saturn for a close triangle low to the horizon. Mars is closest to Saturn on the 20th (1.1°). The inset is the binocular view at the time. | Eastern horizon on the morning of Tuesday, April 21 as seen from Adelaide at 5:48 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mercury, Mars and Saturn for a close triangle low to the horizon. Mercury is 0.6° from Saturn and 1.6° from Mars. The inset is the binocular view at the time. |
Over the past fews days in the morning twilight three bright planets, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, have been drawing closer.
On the 16th there is an attractive massing with three unaided eye planets just above the eastern horizon, all within a 6° circle.
Mercury at the top is 4° from Mars and 6° from Saturn, as a bonus, the slender crescent of the waning 28-day-old Moon is nearby. The planets then come closer and form a close triable between the 19th to 21st.
Mars is closest to Saturn on the 20th (1.1°).
On the 21st another nice close conjunction occurs with Mercury 0.6° from Saturn and 1.6° from Mars. Mars has close approaches with the Moon on the 16th (3°), Saturn on the 20th (1.1°) and Mercury on the 21st (1.7°).
After the close massing from the 23rd the planets stretch out into a line with Mercury heading towards the horizon and fading.
Labels: Mars, massing, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, unaided eye
Monday, April 25, 2022
Planet dance, morning Tuesday April 26-Sunday May 1 2022
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| Morning sky on Tuesday, April 26 as seen from Adelaide at 5:22 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The waning Moon is close to Mars. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). | Morning sky on Wednesday, April 27 as seen from Adelaide at 5:23 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The waning Moon is close to Venus. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). |
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| Morning sky on Thursday, April 28 as seen from Adelaide at 5:24 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The waning Moon is close to Jupiter. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen) | Morning sky on Friday, April 29 as seen from Adelaide at 5:25 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. The crescent Moon forms a line the planets. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen) |
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| Morning sky on Saturday, April 30 as seen from Adelaide at 5:25 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are very close. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen) | Morning sky on Sunday, May 1 as seen from Adelaide at 5:26 am ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Saturn, Mars and Venus form a line with Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are spectacularly close. The inset shows the telescopic image at this time. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen) |
The next few days will see a continuation of the planet dance that we saw the first installment of this morning for ANZAC day. You will of course have to get up early in the morning to see this spectacle.
The waning moon moves down the ladder of four bright planets as Venus and Jupiter come closer to each other. The spectacular finish is on May 1st, When Jupiter and Venus are within telescopic distance of each other.
Labels: Conjunction, Jupiter, Mars, massing, Moon, Saturn, telescope, unaided eye, Venus
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