A similar celestial show will occur a week and a half later on April 15, when the three planets will appear closer to the moon than on April 6. However, the moon will be brighter, since it will be nearly full. This celestial show is just a precursor to an alignment of planets that will occur on May 5. On that date, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be nearly aligned. However, the sun will block this special planetary event from being viewed on Earth.
Planetary alignments are fairly common.
The five planets easily visible from earth become nearly aligned once every 57 years on average. This also triggered a total eclipse of the sun, but no eclipse will occur on May 5.