As mentioned, April should be warmer so that it's easier to enjoy the nights out under the stars. This month will bring a close encounter between Mars and the Pleiades, the Lyrid Meteor Shower, and the approach of opposition of Jupiter and Saturn.
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| Mercury |
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| Venus |
Venus will continue to be found in the morning skies. For those of us in Utah, you can increase your chance and amount of time you can see Venus each morning by getting as far away from the mountains as possible. Our sister planet will shine brightly at magnitude -4.0, so once it rises above the horizon, it will be easy to see. Venus should rise around 6 on the morning of the 1st and about 30 minutes earlier by months end. The Sun will also rise about 30 minutes earlier by the end of the month which doesn't help with viewing this planet.
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| Mars |
Mars will be the first unaided eye planet to be visible after sunset. It can be found high in the western sky in the constellation of Taurus the Bull. Mars will shine around magnitude 1.5 throughout April and will be easy to tell apart from the background stars because of its red glow. On the first night of the month, Mars can be found just to the left of the Pleiades and by months end will be found almost directly above the red supergiant star known as Aldebaran. Mars will also be found to the right of Betelgeuse on this night, which is also a red supergiant star creating a right triangle made up of red points of light. For those into astrophotography, this would be an awesome picture! Mars will sink below the horizon around midnight on the 1st and nearly 30 minutes earlier by the end of the month.
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| Jupiter |
Jupiter will be the next planet to view after Mars if you are staying out all night. This gas giant won't rise until around 2 in the morning in the southeastern sky. The red supergiant star Antares will rise about an hour before, heralding in the coming of Jupiter. By the end of the month, Jupiter will rise nearly 2 hours earlier, closing the gap between the waiting time between viewing Mars and Jupiter. Through binoculars, one can easily spot the four largest moons of Jupiter. Those with a telescope will have an easier time and will also be able to make out the major cloud bands of this giant world. If you are unable to see the four moons, this likely means that one or more of them is either behind or in front of Jupiter. If in front, and your telescope allows it, you should be able to pick out the shadow of the moon on the cloud tops of Jupiter. I've mentioned this several times, but I caught this by mistake and was in awe as I watched the transit. If you have not seen this, be sure to try to catch it this month!
For those that are interested, I have installed a couple of apps on my phone to aid in finding the best times to view a Galilean moon transit. While I haven't used either of them much or know their accuracy, they both seem pretty promising. The first is called Moons of Jupiter. This one shows the time in UTC and does not use the device location, which I think would be helpful. You can move ahead to different dates and times so you can plan your stargazing accordingly. The second one is called Jovemoons which does use the device location which makes the information, hopefully, more accurate. It can also show when the Great Red Spot is visible at your location. You can also move the date and time ahead to a specific date for planning your stargazing adventure. Both apps contain ads unless you purchase the Pro version. At first glance, I like the layout of Moons of Jupiter best, but I like that Jovemoons can tell me when to view the Great Red Spot and uses device location. Let me know what your opinions are of these two (or others) if you try them out!
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| Saturn |
Saturn will be your next planetary target. It will rise just before 4 in the morning in the southeast sky on the first evening of April. It will be found nearly 20° above the horizon. Like Jupiter, by the end of the month, it will rise nearly 2 hours earlier. This will allow the ringed world to reach a higher elevation in our sky to enhance your views through a telescope. Saturn won't shine as brightly as Jupiter, but it will shine brighter than the background stars, making it easier to spot. Using a telescope, you will be able to spot the largest moon of Saturn, Titan. Your views will also show the magnificent ring system of Saturn. To enhance your views, get away from city lights and wait until an hour or two before dawn when Saturn will be high in the sky.
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| Uranus |
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| Neptune |
Uranus will disappear from view after the first few days of April. Your best bet of viewing this planet is through a telescope just after the light from the Sun fades into darkness. It can be found in the western sky in the constellation of Aries the Ram. If you are looking on the first evening of the month, it can be found in a line from the Pleiades to the western horizon. It will appear as a faint dot through binoculars and a small disk through a telescope. Over Utah, we likely won't be able to catch a glimpse a Neptune until the end of the month. At the beginning of the month, it will rise around the same time that Mercury does putting it too low on our eastern horizon to view. By the end of the month, Neptune should rise around 4:30 in the morning in the east. On the last day of the month, the Moon can be found directly below this distant planet, making it harder to spot unless you are using a telescope. Use your telescope to scan the sky above the moon until you find a small bluish-gray disk. This is Neptune! The stars surrounding Neptune will appear as points of light, making it easier to tell the difference between the two.
Meteor Shower
The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on the night of April 22, morning of April 23rd. Unfortunately, this is just a few days past the Full Moon which will wash out all but the brightest meteors. These meteors will appear to radiate from Lyra the Lyre. Vega, one of the brighter stars in this area of the sky will be close to the point where you will want to focus your attention. This point can be found about 30° above the eastern horizon around midnight on the peak date. In years past, stargazers could see up to 20 meteors per hour, but this amount will likely be less than 10 due to the brightness of the Moon. Don't forget that you can try to see these meteors up to a week before and a week after the peak date.
Monthly Breakdown
April 01: Moon and Venus pass within 3°
April 05: New Moon 🌑
April 09: Moon and Mars pass within 5°
April 12: First Quarter Moon 🌓
April 16: Mars and Aldebaran pass within 7°
April 19: Full Moon 🌕
April 22: Lyrid Meteor Shower - Look towards Vega
April 23: Moon and Jupiter pass within 2°
April 25: Moon and Saturn pass within 1°
April 26: Last Quarter Moon 🌗
Think About This....💡
I'm always suggesting that you need to get away from city lights to enhance your views of the night sky, but how do you know if you are far enough away? The obvious answer is to just look up and see if you can see a lot of stars, but what if you, like me, have a lot of equipment that you need to take out and set up while there is still some daylight left? True, I can set up an take down my equipment in the dark, but it makes it easier in the daylight, especially if I am at new location where the terrain is unfamiliar. It is also helpful to know if you will be at a dark sky location if you have to travel a long distance. How disappointing would it be to drive 2 hours away from the major city you are familiar with only to find yourself too close to a different town or manufacturing plant that keeps their lights on all night? As silly as this sounds, it happens!
I would like to introduce you to the Bortle Scale. It was started by John Bortle and was first published in the Sky and Telescope magazine back in 2001. The scale is simple and goes through the numbers 1 to 9. The number 9 represents light polluted skies that can be found in the middle of a city. The only objects that can be seen from this location are the Sun, Moon, Venus and a few of the very brightest stars. As you move down the scale, more stars will appear. I live in a location that is around a 6, but Area 62 that I use as my main dark sky site, is closer to a 2.
Below is an image of what your sky will look like at different levels of the Bortle Scale.
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| Bortle Scale from Stellarium |
Adaptations have been made to the Bortle Scale such as color coding areas on a map. Like many things, you don't realize the information exists until you need it! I didn't stumble upon the Bortle Scale (or adaptations) until 6 or so years ago when I started getting more heavily involved in astronomy and astrophotography. While the scale is much the same, the ease of access has become much better with the progression of technology. When I first stumbled upon it, I used it on a computer, but now there are many astronomy apps that can be used on your tablet or phone that can show you how dark the sky will be at your location.
When I'm on the computer, I use the Clear Dark Sky website which shows me locations and a color coded system on how dark the sky will be. The color coded system also shows how good the "seeing" will be, the cloudiness, humidity, wind, and temperature. Click on the link above and chose your location to see a detailed view of you observing location. The chart is pretty easy to read and the website explains things a lot better than I could.
There are also apps that you can get on your mobile devices such as Dark Sky Map that, as the name suggests, shows a map of how dark the sky is at certain locations. The darker the color, the more stars you will be able to see! There are other apps, such as Astrospheric, that in addition to showing how dark the sky is at certain locations, it also shows the transparency of the sky (amount of pollutants such as smog and smoke) and how cloudy it is predicted to be.
Try out one or all of the above resources (or perhaps you have your own) as you put together your next star party!
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| Now get outside and look up! |
Planet images taken by NASA.
Andrew vs. the Cosmos taken by Jeff Greenland.
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