Exact time to find rare 'smiley face' in the sky - and what you'll really see
A rare 'smiley face' celestial alignment is due to appear in the sky early tomorrow morning (Friday, April 25). Venus, Saturn and the Moon will be aligning to create a slightly surreal formation that will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere just before sunrise.
The triple conjunction, with a thin crescent Moon resembling a smile and the planets as the 'eyes', could last up to an hour, according to NASA.
Since it will appear low in the sky, it might be not be blocked from view by trees, buildings and mountains, said the American space agency. But at sites with unobscured views of the eastern skies, anyone should be able see the spectacle, weather permitting.
'Find Venus, Saturn, and the crescent Moon gathered low in the east as dawn warms the morning sky,' said NASA in a statement. 'Those with a clear view to the horizon might also pick out Mercury looking bright, but very low in the sky.'
Some social media outlets have portrayed the formation like an an emoji or an emoticon, as above. In reality, the celestial rarity will be a little more crooked: stargazers will need quite a bit of imagination to see the conjunction as a smiley face.
For a start, the face will be on its side, rotated almost 90 degrees. And as Venus will be about 150 times brighter than Saturn, one 'eye' will appear much bigger than the other. In fact, it may be a struggle to see Saturn at all, depending on the conditions.
The Moon itself will be just 8% lit, a crescent waning towards new Moon on April 27. However there may be enough earthshine to pick out the rest of the Moon, slightly spoiling the smiley face effect.
Saturn will be the last of the three to rise in the morning, sitting below Venus and the Moon in the sky.
For stargazers, it will still make compelling viewing. 'You'll need to turn your head sideways and really squint, but then you might be able to see the two planets as the eyes and the Moon as the mouth of the face,' Jessica Lee, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told PA.
'Above the Moon, Venus will be bright and easily visible. Below Venus on the other side of the crescent moon, Saturn will technically be visible. However, Saturn rises just before the Sun and the sky will be brightening by the minute.
'How often we can interpret them as smiley faces, I think, depends on individual imaginations.'
To see for yourself, find a clear view of the eastern horizon about 30-60 minutes before sunrise. Tomorrow, sunrise is around 5.50am-5.56am in Wales.
First, look out for Venus, a bright 'star' above the horizon, then the rising crescent Moon. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
About 30 minutes before sunrise, the Moon will form a triangle with Venus and the much dimmer Saturn.
No special equipment is needed to see it but as the planets will be rising in the same part of the sky as the Sun, caution is needed to not look directly at the latter as it rises.
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