Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn have all been visible in the morning skies before sunrise for the last couple of weeks now and it will peak tomorrow (Saturday) morning April 23, 2022, as the Moon joins all of them along with a flyby of the International Space Station in the northwest skies so read on for details …

At times, the planets will align, showing the plane of which we revolve around the Sun.  This ‘line’ you are seeing is you actually seeing edge wise into the orbits of the planets.  It is similar to you holding a frisbee in front of you.  You can see the entire circle, right?  Well if you tilt it so the edge of that is shown toward you, that circle is no longer visible.  If you think of that as the planet orbit, you can see how they look like they are all next to each other, when in reality they are not even close.  That is the perspective of the eye from the distance you see.

At 5:16am the International Space Station will pass Arizona in the northwest direction and look like a fast-moving bright star.  It’ll be from 5:16 to 5:18am for the highest point in the sky.  It will move from southwest to northeast or from left to right, so from the coast to inland toward where the Sun will be rising.  At that time, the sky will be dark, and you can see it flyby along with the four bright planets showing as the image in this post shows.  The bonus will also be the Moon, which will be the most right of the line, right of Saturn.

These do not happen often, but even more so when the Moon joins them along with a flyby of the International Space Station … you do not want to miss this.

WEATHER:  The weather looks good.  The exception will be passing thin high clouds during the passage, but otherwise most will be able to see it so get outside by 5:10am, and you will see all that I have said above between 5:16 – 5:18am