From the April 17, 2025 The most mornings among you will have the opportunity to observe, about an hour before dawn, theplanetary alignment Of the planets Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Neptune, of which the first three visible to the naked eye while for Neptune you have to have a binoculars or a telescope. This configuration will be fully visible, weather permitting, at least for the whole month of April. It is necessary to have anEast horizon quite mackerel Since the four planets will be very low on the horizon around 5.00 in the morning. All four planets are in fact this month angularly close to the sun. We remember that the term planetary alignment is somewhat improper since the four planets do not form a straight line in the sky but they are rather all four simultaneously visible in heaven.
Where and when to observe the alignment of April 17th
The best time to observe planetary alignment on April 17 and the following days is about an hour before dawnwhen all four objects are raised onEast horizon. Given the low height of the planets on the horizon, it is necessary to go to an area having the east horizon quite clear. The first planet to rise is Venus around the 5:00 in the morningfollowed by Saturn to 5:30Neptune at 5:35 And mercury more or less at the same time. There visibility window it is quite reduced, about 40 minutesbefore the glow of dawn makes the sighting of the planets Mercury and Saturn very difficult.
In the remaining part of the month of April the four planets They will increasingly anticipate the rising on the east horizonso it is towards the end of the month that the event of alignment will give the best of itself. In particular, on April 25 the alignment will be accompanied by a subtle moon sickle that will contribute to the celestial show.
How to find the 4 planets in the sky
The best way to locate the four planets about an hour before dawn is to rely on the location of the planet Venus in East Management The “morning star” will in fact be the most brilliant object in that portion of heaven and is therefore easy to identify. About 5 ° under Venus we find the Planet Saturno instead, while the planet Mercury will be more left towards the east.
These three objects are visible to the naked eyewhile the fourth planet, Neptune, is in theory visible only with binoculars or telescopebut its identification will be problematic because of the morning glow. In any case, Nettuno will be about halfway on an imaginary line that connects the positions of Venus and Mercury to Heaven.
