Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Join us (weather permitting) at our Observatory! See Friday Night Sights: Explore the Night Sky – RASC Hamilton for the latest updates on the upcoming date.
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 […]