Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
|
Sunday
|
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
1 event,
–
Once the has sky darkened on Tuesday evening, April 1, look in the lower part of the western sky, where the bright little Pleiades Star Cluster (aka The Seven Sisters, Subaru, and Messier 45) will be close enough to the 17%-illuminated waxing crescent moon for them all to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). […] |
1 event,
–
Another 24 hours of eastward orbital motion will place the slightly fuller crescent moon less than a palm’s width to the upper right (or 5 degrees to the celestial north) of the brilliant planet Jupiter between the horns of Taurus, the Bull on Wednesday evening, April 2. The duo will share the view in binoculars […] |
1 event,
–
On Thursday evening, April 3, the terminator boundary that separtes the moon’s lit and dark hemispheres will fall just to the left of a trio of large craters named Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina that curve along the western edge of gray Mare Nectaris. You can tell what order the craters were formed in by observing […] |
1 event,
On Friday night, April 4 in the western evening sky, the half-full moon will shine a fist’s diameter below (or 10 degrees to the celestial west of) the red planet Mars and Gemini’s two brightest stars, Pollux and Castor. Observers in more westerly time zones will see the moon closer to the line formed by […] |
|
1 event,
–
The lower part of the southwestern sky on early April evenings is dominated by the three bright stars of the Winter Triangle. The prominent asterism, which is visible even while the bright, waxing gibbous moon is shining nearby this weekend, is anchored on the bottom by the magnitude -1.45 star Sirius or Alpha Canis Majoris, […] |
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
1 event,
Three prominent craters break up the expanse of Oceanus Procellarum, the widespread dark region on the moon’s left-hand side. Large Copernicus is the easternmost of the craters. Its extensive, ragged ray system intermingles with that of the smaller crater Kepler to its southwest. The small, but very bright crater Aristarchus positioned northwest of them will […] |
1 event, |
1 event,
During the early part of April, the planets Venus, Mercury, Neptune, and Saturn will all be gathered above the eastern horizon before sunrise. Neptune is far too faint to compete against the morning twilight, but the other three planets will be visible, especially from tropical latitudes where the ecliptic (green line) will be closer to […] |
1 event,
The moon will officially reach its full phase on Saturday, April 12 at 8:22 p.m. EDT or 5:22 p.m. PDT, which converts to 00:22 GMT on Sunday. Around that time, the full moon will also pass in front of the bright star Spica for observers within a zone from Panama southeast across northern South America, […] |
|
0 events,
|
0 events,
|
1 event,
When the bright, waning gibbous moon clears the trees to the southeast in late evening on Tuesday, April 15, it will be shining close to the line of medium-bright stars that form the claws of Scorpius, the Scorpion. From upper left to lower right, their names are Graffias (or Beta Scorpii), Dschubba (or Delta Scorpii), […] |
2 events,
On Wednesday evening, April 16, observers in a zone extending from the southern Atlantic Ocean, the southern part of Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, and eastern Antarctica can watch the motion (green line) of the bright, waning gibbous moon cross in front of (or occult) the very bright, reddish star Antares, which marks the heart of […] |
1 event,
On evenings during mid-April, the Big Dipper is positioned nearly overhead with its handle pointed down to the east. On this week’s moonless nights, two impressive galaxies can be seen in binoculars (orange circle) and backyard telescopes by using the bright star Alkaid at the tip of the dipper’s handle to find them. The Pinwheel […] |
2 events,
The Big Dipper asterism and its home constellation of Ursa Major are very high in the northern sky in late evening during mid-April – ideal for observing the spectacular galaxies they host in strong binoculars or backyard telescopes on the dark nights this weekend. Draw a line connecting the dipper stars Phecda to Dubhe, and […] |
|
1 event, |
2 events,
On Monday, April 21, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will reach its greatest angle of 27.4 degrees from the morning sun and maximum visibility for its current morning apparition. With Mercury positioned low in the eastern sky and well below the tilted morning ecliptic (green line), this appearance of the innermost planet will be a […]
–
The moon will reach its third quarter phase on Monday, April 21 at 01:35 GMT, which converts to 9:35 p.m. EDT or 6:35 p.m. PDT on Sunday, April 20. Third quarter moons rise around midnight in your local time zone, and then linger in the southern sky after sunrise. At third, or last, quarter the […] |
1 event,
The annual Lyrids meteor shower, derived from particles dropped by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), runs from April 16 to 29. It will peak in intensity at approximately 9 am EDT on Tuesday, April 22, but some meteors should be seen while the shower’s radiant point near the bright star Vega in Lyra climbs the eastern […] |
1 event,
On Thursday morning, April 24, early risers can look low in the eastern sky for the pretty sight of the waning crescent moon shining a fist’s diameter to the right (or 10 degrees to the celestial west) of brilliant Venus. Much fainter Saturn will also shine a few degrees below Venus. Just before sunrise, Mercury […] |
1 event,
After 24 hours of additional eastward orbital motion, the very slim crescent of the old moon will shine within a triangle composed of three planets before sunrise on Friday morning, April 25. Locate brilliant Venus and then look for the moon about a binoculars’ field of view (orange circle) to its lower left. Less bright […] |
0 events,
|
|
2 events,
On Sunday, April 27, Venus will reach its greatest illuminated extent for the current morning apparition. In a telescope (inset), the planet will show a surprisingly slender, 26%-illuminated, waxing crescent phase on a large apparent disk size of 39 arc-seconds. Even with a less than fully-illuminated disk, Venus’ distance from Earth of only 0.432 Astronomical […]
–
The moon will reach its new phase on Sunday, April 27 at 3:31 p.m. EDT or 12:31 p.m. PDT or 19:31 GMT. At that time our natural satellite will be located in Aries and 3.25 degrees north of the sun. While new, the moon is travelling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only […] |
1 event,
In the eastern sky before dawn in late April, the orbital motion of the brilliant planet Venus will be carrying it past 240 times fainter Saturn. On the mornings before Monday, April 28, Saturn will be positioned several finger widths below (or 3.6 degrees to the celestial south of) Venus, allowing the two planets to […] |
1 event,
–
In the western sky after dusk on Tuesday, April 29, the waxing crescent moon will shine prettily a fist’s diameter to the lower right (or 11 degrees to the celestial northwest) of Jupiter. On the following evening, April 30, the moon will climb to shine a palm’s width to Venus’ upper right. The moon’s nightly […] |
1 event,
The large and bright constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear is at the zenith after dusk in late April. Everyone is familiar with the Big Dipper asterism portion of that constellation. Another easily seen, but lesser-known pattern is the Three Leaps of the Gazelle, composed of three pairs of medium-bright stars strung in a […] |
2 events,
From time to time, the largest asteroids in our solar system become bright enough to be seen without special equipment by skywatchers. On Thursday, May 1, Earth’s orbital motion will carry us between the minor planet Vesta and the sun. On the nights around that date, Vesta will be visible all night long and shine […] |
2 events,
In the early days of May, the brilliant planet Venus will be gleaming in the pre-dawn eastern sky near two other planets. Medium-bright Saturn will be readily visible a few finger widths to the Venus’ lower right (or celestial south), while far fainter Neptune will be located below Venus and a few finger widths to […] |
1 event,
–
In the western sky after dusk on Saturday, May 3, the reddish dot of Mars will be positioned just below the nearly half-illuminated moon. Binoculars (orange circle) will also reveal the scattered stars of the large open star cluster named the Beehive to Mars’ left (or celestial SSE). Other names for the cluster include Praesepe, […] |