Monthly Night Sky Report: April 2017

March was a pretty good month to get out and see some night sky objects.  At least in my small part of the world.  I didn't think it was unbearably cold outside on most nights.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see either comet I mentioned, or even the Zodiacal light.  It's still on my list of must see astronomical sights though!  Hopefully April will have many more warm nights that make being outside during the evening and night hours more enjoyable.

Mercury will start the month off as being very easy to find shortly after the Sun sets.  It will reach its highest point in our western sky during the evening of April 1st.  Mercury is only visible for a short time this month so be sure to get it a look.

Next up is Mars.  It will also be visible in our western sky after the Sun sets.  Around the 20th, Mars will be found close to the star cluster, the Pleiades.  The Pleiades is a very good binocular target.  I think it looks better through binoculars then it does through a telescope.  By the 27th, the Moon will join Mars in the western sky and will be a nice sight to see.  Mars won't reveal any of its surface features through a telescope since it's lower in the sky.  However, if you would like to see some pictures, videos, or read about Mars, you can click here to visit NASA's Curiosity mission page.

In my opinion, Jupiter will be the star of the month.  It will be at opposition on the 7th.  You will easily be able to see the Galilean Moons with a pair of binoculars.  Jupiter will rise in the east as the Sun sets in the west.  For the best views with a telescope, wait until Jupiter is high in the sky so that you are looking through less of the atmosphere.  For those that wake up early in the morning, look to the west to see Jupiter before the Sun rises in the morning.  As a reminder, the spacecraft Juno is currently on a mission around Jupiter.  It has been able to take many breathtaking pictures, which are constantly being updated by new pictures.  You can see them here.

Saturn is also a very nice telescopic target.  It will rise in the early morning hours, so you will need to stay up late or wake up early to view Saturn.  Saturn can be found near a couple of open star clusters through April, so if you can use a telescope, be sure to visit those as well!  For those that want to stay inside, there is still the Cassini mission studying Saturn.  If you want to see some pictures, video, or read about it, click here.

Venus has returned as the morning "star".  It can easily be found in the east before sunrise and should be the brightest object in that part of the sky.  Be sure to use your binoculars or telescope to see the phases of Venus throughout the month.  It will reach its greatest brightness on the 29th.

Neptune and Uranus will be hard to see in the sky this month.  Both are found too close to the Sun, from our perspective.

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak will still be visible this month with a pair of binoculars or telescope.  It will make its closest approach to Earth on April 1st, and closest to the Sun on the 13th.  Astronomers predict it could be bright enough to see with the naked eye from a dark sky.  Comets are often hard to predict how bright they will become, so it might even be brighter than predicted.  It will be found in the constellation of Draco, which can be found between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

There will also be a meteor shower this month, the Lyriads, peaking on April 22nd.  The meteors will appear to be coming form the constellation Lyra, which contains the bright star Vega.  This meteor shower isn't particularly active, showing approximately 20 meteors an hour.

Here is your monthly breakdown.

April 1:  Mercury will be found at its highest point in the western sky after sunset.
April 7:  Jupiter is at opposition.  It's a great night to view it!
April 11:  Full Moon.
April 13:  Look for Comet 41P near Ursa Major.
April 22:  Lyrid meteor shower peaks.  Approximately 20 meteors an hour.
April 26:  New Moon.
April 29:  Venus reaches its peak brightness for the month.

Historically, April has been a fairly quiet month with only a few major events happening.  On the 12th in 1961, the cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin is the first person to orbit the Earth.  That must have been a breathtaking sight, as well as a bit terrifying!

The first US space shuttle lifted off on April 12, 1981.  The shuttle, Columbia, completed 28 missions before the disaster at re-entry in 2003.  The disaster was caused by a section of ceramic tiles on the bottom of the shuttle coming loose after liftoff.  This resulted in the later shuttle missions to do a "flip" in space near the ISS to be sure all of the heat tiles were still in place.

On April 20, 1972, the crew of Apollo 16 landed on the Moon.  This was the second to last Apollo mission but the first to land in the highlands on the Moon.  The crew landed safely back on Earth on the 27th of April.

In my opinion, the highlight of the month goes to the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.  This occurred on the 25th in 1990.  Shortly after launch and Hubble coming online, it took some pictures.  Unfortunately they came back blurry so a lens had to be made to correct the error made in the mirror during construction.  After the lens was placed in front of the mirror, Hubble started to return many great images.  With a bit of searching, these images can be found here.

Don't forget that nearly every morning or night, you can see the ISS fly overhead.  There are many apps for your phone that can alert you to when the ISS is flying over your location.  Astronomy can also be done during the day.  If you have a pair of eclipse glasses, you can look at the Sun and maybe even see some sunspots!  If you don't have a pair of eclipse glasses, now is a great time to buy them.  They can be found online at places like Amazon, Orion Telescopes and Binoculars, and even Walmart.  There is a wide price range depending on what kind you get.  Personally, I like the ones that look like a regular pair of sunglasses, but that's just me.

Now for your homework:  If you haven't heard, there is a total solar eclipse this year on August 21st.  It's kind of a big deal.  My challenge to you - read up on the differences of each eclipse.  You might be quizzed on it in an upcoming blog!  

As always, I'm available anytime for space talk and star shows.  I can't wait for warmer weather and the chance to get outside with the telescope.  

Now get outside and look up! 

March 9th 2017

This will be a quick post to share some pictures I took with my smartphone and my telescope.  I looked at more objects than I took pictures of because the tracking was slightly off and before I could correct it, my telescope power source died.  Hopefully there will be many more pictures coming this year!

This is seriously Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

You may notice that the next few pictures have black lines going through them.  This is caused by the eyepiece I was using.  It's an alignment eyepiece to help me align the telescope to objects in the sky for tracking purposes.  I am able to turn it on and those black lines actually turn red and form a cross.