Planets Aligned: Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars Parade Across IL Skies

ILLINOIS — As the Lyrid meteor shower winds down this week, the early morning sky offers a stellar view of four planets — Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mars — for Illinois skywatchers willing to get up early and drink it in with their 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.

The next seven days of weather will ring familiar with Chicago-area residents as temperatures are expected to remain on the cool side with chances of rain several times over the next week, the National Weather Service is predicting. Sunday will be partly sunny with temperatures around 60 degrees before partly sunny skies arrive on Monday and chances of rain exist on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week with temperatures in the 60s early in the week before a cool-off arrives and temperatures dip back into the 50s to close out the week, forecasters predict.

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

There are chances of rain on Saturday with thunderstorms possible just after 10 a.m., forecasters predict.

The best time to see the planetary parade is about an hour before sunrise. Sunrise is around 5:48 a.m. in the greater Chicago area and throughout the state.

The last time Jupiter and Venus 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 month-long 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.