Planets align

For the next fewdays Venus and Jupiter will appear close together in what’s called a conjunction, in the predawn eastern sky. They will also be in a lineup that includes Saturn, Mars and the Moon. Stardome astronomy expert Josh Aoraki said Venus and Jupiter would appear closest to each other from about 4am on Sunday. ‘‘They will be pretty bright and visible ... You don’t need any equipment,’’ he said. ‘‘If you do have a telescope or binoculars, then you could resolve them into two individual planets. To the naked eye, they might appear as a single bright star.’’ While Jupiter and Venus would look nearest to each other on Sunday, they would also appear close together a fewdays either side of Sunday, Aoraki said. The nightly alignment of the four planets would continue for about another twomonths.