Planetary Conjunctions and Alignments in the Early Mornings of Spring 2022

• James Hedberg

This spring, 4 planets are putting on a show in the pre-dawn skies. During March, they will be setting up for a very nice alignment to occur in late April.

In late March, the first movement of this performance will culminate in a trio of Mars, Venus, and Saturn, all in a very compact triangle.

A trio of 3 planets
Simulated view over Manhattan showing three planets in a triangle on March 30, 2022. Rendered with OpenSpace

In the weeks following, Saturn will keep moving up, while Jupiter will begin to peak its head above the horizon. You’ll need to be either high up on a hill, or building, or near a very open Eastern facing area to see it. But, a few weeks into April the 4 will be in a straight line, extending diagonally upward from the horizon.

Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn, all in a line
The 4 planet alignment on April 24th. Rendered with OpenSpace

And, if we were to imagine having perfect weather every day for March and April, we might see something this if we went out every day an hour before sunrise.

Daily positions of the Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn in the Spring of 2022
Daily positions of the Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn in the Spring of 2022. Time is 1 hour before sunrise in NYC. Rendered with OpenSpace

And, the space-bird’s eye view is always nice too. Here are the 2 months looking down on the solar system. From this perspective, we can see that in late March, Venus, Mars, and Saturn are all nearly in a line extending out from Earth.

The solar system configuration during the spring of 2022.
The solar system configuration during the spring of 2022. Rendered with OpenSpace

Lastly, we wouldn’t be doing all this if you couldn’t actually see this from NYC. Here’s some proof. Taken from an undisclosed location in Hamilton Heights around 6 am on March 16th. The three planets are beginning to come together into a tight triangle. Saturn is hard to see due to the horizon lights (and of course the city lights) but it’s visible if you give your eyes some time to adjust.

Photograph of Venus, Mars, and Saturn in the early AM hours.
Photograph of Venus, Mars, and Saturn in the early AM hours.

About the author

Dr. Hedberg studied the ancient cosmologies of Ptolemy, Tycho, and Kepler as an undergrad at St. John’s College (Santa Fe) as part of the Program’s Mathematics tutorial, though the college didn’t have this beautiful tool when he attended there. Since then, his work in programming and science visualization sometimes takes delightful detours into the past, present and future.