04/28/2026
This is not a click-bait attempt claiming you can see 6 planets in alignment across the sky. Good luck with that. Those articles fail to mention that you need a telescope to see Neptune, very good eyesight and dark skies to see Uranus which is usually mistaken for a faint star. Or that Mercury is close to the Sun and sets 20 minutes after you might see it using binoculars if inexperienced.
This is an opportunity to track our 2 brightest, most beautiful, easy to find planets to find and track them as they move to join up in 7 weeks - Jupiter and Venus.
Jupiter is overhead shortly after sunset (30-45 minutes), faint at first but very bright at full darkness near the twin stars, Castor and Pollux. Due west and lower in the sky is Venus, also brighter than any star.
Use the span of your hand to judge the gap between them tonight or a clear night soon. We passed Jupiter in our orbit 4 months ago so it is falling away from us, gradually getting lower in our sky. Meanwhile Venus is heading towards us, getting higher in the sky each night. The gap between them will grow smaller for the next 7 weeks until they look like this picture - a conjunction.
This picture from March 2023 shows what they will look like on June 9.
So start tracking!
