Rare Astronomical Event: After 1,000 Years : Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars To Form Straight Line, To Be Visible

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A rare and beautiful celestial event is about to take place in the last week of April and this will include four planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. This astronomical event will happen after 1000 years, which means the last time it happened around 947 AD. The best part is that all of them will align in a straight line in the eastern sky for around one hour before the Sun rises.

In an interview with ANI, the Deputy Director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar, Subhendu Pattnaik said, 'During the last week of April 2022, a rare and unique planet alignment will occur, which is popularly known as planet parade'. Although there is no scientific definition for planet parade, it is being widely used in astronomy to denote an event that takes place when planets of the solar system line up in a row in the same area of the sky.'

"One hour before sunrise on April 26 and 27, the moon along with four planets will be visible within 30 degrees from the eastern horizon in a near-perfect straight line. If the conditions are right, one can see Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn in a line without the need for binoculars or telescopes. On April 30, the brightest planets - Venus and Jupiter - can be seen very close together. Venus will be 0.2 degrees south of Jupiter," he added.

Three Types Of Planet Parade

Planet Parade are divided into three categories and the first kind of planet parade is one when the planets line up on the one side of the Sun as seen up above the plane of our solar system.

While the alignment of three planets on one side of the Sun is a common phenomena and can be seen for quite a number of days a year, the alignment of four planets occurs once a year while that of five planets occurs once every nineteen years. The alignment of all eight planets occurs once in about 170 years, mentions an ANI report.

"Secondly, when some planets appear in a small sector of the sky at the same time regardless of their visibility conditions, from Earths point of view we term the event also as a planet parade. A planet parade of this type last happened on April 18, 2002 and July 2020 when all planets of the Solar system that are visible to the naked eye lined up in a row in the evening sky," Pattnaik told ANI.

He said the third type of planet parade is rare and there is a need of favourable conditions for observation of all or some of the planets. These events are also referred to as planet parades. Three planets can be simultaneously observed in the same part of the sky several times a year.

(This article is written with excerpts from ANI)