Twin Cities Residents Can See Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars At Once

MINNEAPOLIS — Early risers in the Twin Cities metro area will soon get a chance to see a stellar view of four planets — Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mars — all align while they sip their morning coffee.

The alignment of four planets just above the horizon can be viewed easily in the eastern sky without a telescope through the end of the month, according to NASA, weather permitting.

Here’s the current forecast for the Twin Cities metro area.

Try to catch it on Saturday morning, though. The two brightest planets, Jupiter and Venus, have an “ultra-close” conjunction, the space agency said.

The best time to see the planetary parade is about an hour before sunrise. Sunrise is around X:XX a.m. in Minneapolis.

The last time Jupiter and Venus have appeared this close together was on Nov. 24, 2019.

“Of course,” NASA explained, “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.”

This conjunction isn’t as impressive as the grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in late 2020, but the planetary lineup is “still really impressive” and will “make for thrilling sights in the morning sky,” NASA said. “So definitely try to catch them if you can!”

While you’re scanning the sky, you may still see a few stray shooting stars from the Lyrids meteor shower, known for producing fireballs with bright dust trails that can last for a few seconds. The monthlong Eta Aquarids meteor shower is also underway. It peaks May 4-5.

The meteor shower favors the Southern Hemisphere, where it produces about 60 meteors an hour, but it's a decent show in the Northern Hemisphere, too, and viewers in this part of the world can expect to see about half that many. Comet Haley is the parent of this meteor shower, which has been observed since ancient times.