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