April Night Skies

 A brief overview of what to see in the sky with the unaided eye during April evenings (updated April 1, 2026):

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 mostly not visible except with difficulty very low in the southeastern sky before sunrise and reaches greatest western elongation April 3

●  Venus shines brightly very low in the western sky after sunset

●  Mars is not practically visible, remaining close to the sun’s position in the sky

●  Jupiter is visible high in the western sky (nearly overhead) in the Gemini constellation

●  Saturn is not practically visible, being close to the sun’s position in the sky

 Moon Phases 

●  Full Moon April 1, 22:12 EDT

●  Last Quarter Moon April 10, 00:52 EDT

●  New Moon April 17, 07:52 EDT

●      First Quarter Moon April 23, 22:32 EDT

 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

Noteworthy Sky Events

 ●    April 22: peak of Lyrids meteor shower afternoon of April 22, but the shower is active from April 14-30

 ●  April 18-19: thin crescent moon and Venus close together in evening sky after sunset

Monthly Sky Chart for mid-April, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):

 

February Night Skies

A brief overview of what to see in the night sky with the unaided eye during February evenings:

Stars and Constellations

Some prominent constellations visible in the evening sky are Leo and Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper star group)

● Leo, rising higher in the southeastern sky, is dominated by the bright star Regulus

● The Big Dipper and Ursa Major are rising high in the northeastern sky

● Two bright stars in Leo are Regulus, at the western end (and at the base of the backward “question mark”), and Denebola, at the eastern end of Leo

● South of Regulus is the red star Alphard, in the less prominent constellation Hydra

Planets

●   Mercury becomes visible low in the western evening sky during mid and late February and reaches greatest eastern elongation from the sun February 19

●   Venus becomes visible low in the western sky following sunset around mid-February

●   Mars is not practically visible and remains close to the sun’s position

●   Jupiter shines brightly in the southeastern sky during early evening during early February and high in the southern sky later in the month in the Gemini constellation

●   Saturn is briefly visible low in the west-southwestern sky after sunset in the Pisces constellation

Moon Phases

●   Full Moon February 1, 17:09 EST

●   Last Quarter Moon February 9, 07:43 EST

●   New Moon February 17, 07:01 EST

●   First Quarter Moon February 24, 07:27 EST

Sky Resources Online

Some web resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more info:

●    astrogeo.ca/skylights

●    www.heavens-above.com

●    In-the-sky.org

●    www.skyandtelescope.org

●    www.skymaps.com

Noteworthy Sky Events

●   Feb. 2: full moon occults the bright star Regulus in the Leo constellation

●   Feb. 18: Venus, Mercury and very thin crescent moon close together low in the western sky after sunset

Monthly Sky Chart for mid-February, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):