Monthly Night Sky Report: April 2026

                     Introduction

   The temperatures in March set records not only in Utah but also in several other states. The warmer temperatures are nice for outdoor activities, but not so good for Utah's water situation. I suppose on the upside, we have been experiencing clearer skies for stargazing! I have been enjoying looking at Jupiter and Venus in the evening sky, along with the familiar winter constellations, as they set earlier each night. I am planning on a quick outing with my new scope during the final few days of March. Of course, there is currently cloudy weather on the horizon, but hopefully it will be clear enough to enjoy a few hours under the stars.  

    Historically, April brings rain showers and wet weather, but with the current trend, who knows what we will get?! This month brings the return of a meteor shower to our skies after a two-month break. Most of the planets will theoretically be visible this month, with a few being harder to spot due to their proximity to the Sun. There may also be a few comets visible during April, with one possibly becoming visible to the unaided eye.        

    Artemis II is currently expected to launch on April 1st, sending four astronauts around the Moon. Stay up-to-date with the Artemis Mission here or with your favorite news source.

                      

Mercury

   Mercury can be found above the eastern horizon before sunrise during April. This tiny world will reach its greatest western elongation on the 3rd, perhaps making this the best time to view as it rises about 45 minutes before the Sun. Mercury doesn't offer any planetary detail, and the only benefit of viewing this tiny world through a telescope or binoculars is to help more easily identify it in the glow of the rising Sun. On the 15th, a thin crescent Moon will join Mercury in the sky. On the 20th, Saturn and Mars may also be seen just before sunrise. Perhaps we could call this time of morning the "House of the Rising Sun?" On the 20th, these three planets will all lie within 2° of one another. A pair of binoculars or a telescope with a low-power eyepiece may be required to see the faint pinpoint light of Saturn and Mars. Mercury should stand out, shining at magnitude -0.2 this morning, so target this world while trying to spot Saturn and Mars in the sunrise glow.    

  

Venus

   Switching to the evening sky and the western horizon, Venus can be found proudly shining before the Sun's glow fades into darkness. Venus will begin April, hanging amongst the stars of Aries, the Ram. As the month progresses, Venus will slide over to the neighboring constellation of Taurus. The famous Pleiades can be found just a few degrees above this bright planet on the 18th. Uranus has been found close to the Pleiades over the past few months and will join Venus in the night sky on the 23rd when the pair will be less than 1° apart. By the 25th, Venus will have moved to the left of the Pleiades in the evening sky. This month will likely be the last time to view the Pleiades until the winter constellations reemerge later this year.  

    

Mars

    

   Mars can be found in the "House of the Rising Sun" region of the sky near Mercury during April. On the 20th, Mercury and Saturn can be found within 2° of the Red Planet; a pair of binoculars or a telescope may be required to pick out the dim Martian glow from the brightening morning sky. Mars will continue to rise earlier each day, but won't be easy to spot until later this year.

       

Jupiter

Saturn

   Jupiter will remain a great target for the unaided eye, binoculars, or a telescope throughout April. This gas giant will be easy to see after sunset among the background stars of Gemini. Several of the Galilean Moon transits will occur this month, and many chances to see the Great Red Spot will present themselves. As the weather warms up this month, I encourage interested observers to use the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn app for Android or Gas Giants for iOS devices to determine when these transits occur at their location. Both of these apps are free. If an observer is interested in a paid, more comprehensive app, I recommend Stellarium Plus for Android and iOS, and SkySafari Pro for iOS. The Earth's own Moon will pass close by Jupiter on the 22nd of this month.  

  Saturn can be found in the "House of the Rising Sun" in April, alongside Mercury and Mars. The trio of planets can be found within 2° of each other on the 20th, creating quite the planetary conjunction. A pair of binoculars or a telescope with a low-power eyepiece will be required to view the dim planets against the brightening background sky.

       

Neptune

Uranus

    

   Uranus will continue to be found close to the Pleiades during April, but will soon be lost from view as it nears solar conjunction. For the time being, Uranus will be above the western horizon and above brilliant Venus during the first half of the month. While Uranus moves closer to the horizon, Venus will climb higher until the pair of planets meet on the 24th, at which point they will be less than 1° apart.  

   Neptune recently reached solar conjunction and will be lost from view during April. It will return to our morning sky soon!

Lyrid Meteor Shower and Comets

    The Lyrid Meteor Shower returns this month, ending a two-month major meteor shower drought! The Lyrids are active from April 14th until the 30th, with the peak occurring in the predawn sky on the 22nd. The almost first-quarter Moon will sink below the horizon around 1:00 AM on this date, making this the best time to search for these shooting stars. The Lyrids will appear to radiate from the constellation Lyra, which rises in the early evening sky and will reach the zenith shortly before the Moon sets. The maximum rate on the 22nd is approximately 20 meteors per hour. This isn't one of the more active showers, but a dark sky site after Moonset will increase the chance of spotting the Lyrids. 

    The most exciting and unpredictable of the comets visible this month is the newly discovered Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS). It's also being called the "Easter Comet" as it will pass close to the Sun on April 4th. This means the comet will either break apart or the heat from the Sun could trigger an outburst, potentially making Comet MAPS visible to the unaided eye...during daylight hours! If it does survive, it will be visible in the western sky after sunset. The Southern Hemisphere will have the best views, but Northern Hemisphere observers should still be able to at least see its tail.

    Comet 10P/Tempel, aka Tempel 2, is returning to our skies and should be visible throughout much of the summer. Observers should begin to look for Tempel 2 from a dark sky location on the 12th near the constellation Scutum. This region of the sky rises above the eastern horizon near 2:00 AM. A telescope or a long-exposure image will be needed in April to spot Tempel 2, but it is expected to double its brightness by August. 

    The final known comet to watch during April is Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS). It is currently visible in the constellation Pegasus, which rises above the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise. The best time to view this comet will come around midmonth, about an hour or so before sunrise, still hovering among the stars of Pegasus. A pair of binoculars, a telescope, or an imaging setup will be required to view this comet during its brief visit. 

Monthly Breakdown

April 01: Full Moon 🌕
April 03: Mercury reaches greatest western elongation 
April 10: Last Quarter Moon🌗 
April 15: Moon passes within 5° of Mercury

April 15: Moon passes within 4° of Mars

April 16: Moon passes within 5° of Saturn   

April 17: New Moon 🌑
April 19: Moon passes within 5° of Venus
April 19: Moon passes within 5° of Uranus
April 19: Mercury and Mars pass within 2°

April 20: Mercury and Saturn pass within 1° 

April 20: Mars and Saturn pass within 1° 

April 22: Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks

April 22: Moon passes within 4° of Jupiter
April 23: First Quarter Moon 🌓 

April 24: Venus and Uranus pass within 1° 

 

         

Now get outside and look up!

Planet images were taken by NASA.

Andrew vs. the Cosmos image was taken by Jeff Greenland.

The Milky Way and Trees image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

Orion, Taurus, and Pleiades image was taken by Andrew Greenland.

                

   

Midmonth Check-In: March 2026 and Music & Astronomy

                         

  Introduction and Monthly Reminders   

     The weather so far this March has been off the rails! Utah started the month off with a few major rain and snowstorms, blocking the Total Lunar Eclipse on the 3rd from view, of course. I was hoping for clear skies, but wasn't surprised by the timing of the storms and cloud cover. After the storms, the temperatures shot up to 60°+ for the daily high with many clear nights. 

    I'm hoping that the clear weather and mild temperatures continue so that I, and all other stargazers, can enjoy the night sky. I am anxious to get my telescopes back out under the stars where they belong! Observers can still count on seeing many of the DSOs from the Messier Catalog during the remainder of March. The New Moon phase is quickly approaching, making it a great time to view these faint fuzzies. During the New Moon phase, the Zodiacal Light will be easy to spot in the west after sunset. A camera capable of taking long-exposure images will also be beneficial.  

Music and Astronomy

    I have always had a great love of music and almost constantly have something playing. Even now, as I write this post, I have my Stargazing Ambient playlist on in the background. Perhaps some of my readers will find it surprising that astronomy and music are connected. I'm not talking about musicians writing songs with astronomy-related lyrics, like Space Oddity by David Bowie, or music written with the heavens in mind, like The Planets by Gustav Holst, or even astronomers being popular musicians like Brian May, an astrophysicist who is also a member of Queen. I'm talking about how music and astronomy are both based on vibrations and waves.

    Sounds are created by vibrations in the air that the ear can pick up. These vibrations can be caused by any number of things, a few of which could be from me attempting to play a song on a guitar, the sound of my telescope eyepiece hitting the ground when I drop it, and the choice, usually explicit, words that come out of my mouth when this happens. All of these vibrations are just sound waves traveling through the air at frequencies measured in Hertz (Hz) that the human ear can detect. Frequency determines the sound we hear. A high frequency is a higher-pitched, shrill sound, like a siren or whistle. A low-frequency, low-pitched sound could be, for example, thunder or a bass drum. It is important to note that the volume is not related to the frequency or pitch of a sound, regardless of how it sounds to the human ear. The low E string on my guitar, when tuned correctly, has a frequency of approximately 82.4 Hz. This frequency does not change, no matter how hard or soft I pluck the guitar string. Similarly, if I pluck the high E string, it produces a frequency of approximately 330 Hz, a much higher, shrill sound compared to the low E string. Again, this pitch does not change if I pluck the string hard or soft.     

    When studying the night sky, astronomers are looking at different light, radio, or gravitational waves, depending on the instrument, if any, that is used. Light waves, like sound waves, come in many different frequencies, with the human visible range between 380 and 750 nanometers (nm). The violet color corresponds to the lower end of the visible spectrum, 380 nm, while red corresponds to the high end at 750 nm. While observing the night sky, it's easy to see that stars have different colors, meaning they emit light at different wavelengths. For example, Aldebaran, the red star in Taurus, has a color wavelength of approximately 741 nm, while Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, has a wavelength of approximately 440 nm, corresponding to a blue-violet color. Interesting fact: several of the brightest stars in the sky, such as Sirius, Rigel, and Vega, have peak wavelengths in the ultraviolet range, which is outside the visible spectrum for humans. However, because these stars produce so much light, some of it "leaks" into the visible spectrum for humans to see.

    Math is all around us, including in music and astronomy. In music, there is often harmony between the notes played on instruments and the sound of the singing voice. One simple example of harmony can be demonstrated using a single string on a guitar. It does not matter which string, but I will use the low E string as an example. As mentioned earlier, when in tune, the frequency of this string when plucked is 82.4 Hz. I can then press the 12th fret, which produces another E note, an octave higher, at 164.8 Hz. The 12th fret on most guitars essentially makes the string half as long, so it has a frequency, or pitch, twice as high, creating a 2:1 ratio. Since both of these are an E note, they are said to be in harmony. There are several other types of harmony, but I just wanted to demonstrate the octave.  

    Astronomy also offers examples of harmony amid chaos. The first example that comes to my mind is the three largest inner moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, and Ganymede. For every four orbits Io completes, Europa completes two, and Ganymede completes one. This is known as an orbital resonance and can be expressed as a 4:2:1 ratio in this example. 

    In the past, I shared a link to different sounds in space, such as the sounds of the planets. Since space is a vacuum, how do we get these sounds? The sound of the planets was created by collecting electromagnetic, radio, and plasma-wave data and translating it into a frequency humans can hear. Some people find these sounds scary or creepy, but I find most of them quite relaxing. This is the best link I could find to demonstrate the sounds of our solar system; it even includes Pluto! Recently, images from space have also been converted to sound. While it's not the actual sound picked up from the cosmos, it is still quite fascinating. The process involves taking an image and converting the location, color, and brightness of each pixel into sound. For example, a star on the top of the image will have a higher note than a star on the bottom of an image. The brightness translates into a louder note, while the color could be a different instrument. Both of these techniques are called sonification. Here is the link to NASA's Sonifications page, which includes the sounds. They even let you create your own!            

    In review, music is patterns of sound frequencies, while astronomy is patterns of light frequencies. Both of these reveal that the universe is a deeply mathematical and rhythmic place! 

Artemis II Update: This spacecraft and four astronauts are expected to launch on April 1st, with the SLS returning to the launchpad around March 19th. The intended mission is to fly around the Moon before returning to Earth.    

    Show that you support dark skies by being one of the first Utahns to get a Dark Sky license plate! Visit Dark Sky Utah to apply for a new license plate for your vehicle. 

         

    

Now get outside and look up!