Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
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 […]
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, […]
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), […]
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 […]
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 […]