April Skies
A brief overview of what to see in the sky with the unaided eye during April evenings:
Stars and Constellations
● Some prominent constellations visible in the evening sky are Bootes, Coma Berenices and Virgo
● Follow the ‘handle’ stars of the Big Dipper star group southward to the star Arcturus in Bootes, and then further south to the star Spica in Virgo
● Arcturus is a bright (first magnitude) orange star rising in the east during spring evenings
● Spica is a bright (first magnitude) blue star lower in the southeastern sky during spring evenings
● Coma Berenices is a small group of faint stars west of Arcturus, and nearly overhead by late evening
● The region of sky in the direction of Virgo and Coma Berenices contains numerous galaxies that can be seen in a moderate-size telescope in a dark sky
Planets
● Mercury is visible low in the western sky after sunset during early April and then reaches inferior conjunction with the sun April 11, and then appears in the pre-dawn sky in late April
● Venus is visible with difficulty very low in the southeastern pre-dawn sky
● Mars is visible low in the southeastern pre-dawn sky in the Aquarius constellation
● Jupiter is visible low in the western sky after sunset during early April
● Saturn is visible low in the southeastern pre-dawn sky in the Aquarius constellation
Moon Phases
● Last Quarter Moon April 1, 23:15 EDT
● New Moon April 8, 14:21 EDT
● First Quarter Moon April 15, 15:13 EDT
● Full Moon April 23, 19:49 EDT
Noteworthy Sky Events
- April 8: solar eclipse
- April 10-11: Mars and Saturn very close together low in the southeastern sky
- April 22: peak of Lyrids meteor shower, but coincident with bright moonlight
Sky Resources Online
Some website resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more information:
● astrogeo.ca/skylights
● www.heavens-above.com
● In-the-sky.org
● www.skyandtelescope.org
● www.skymaps.com
Star Chart for mid-April, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):
