Listen: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz211-aprilskyguide
April Summary
Jupiter & Mars are dominating the NW skies
Venus, Saturn & Mercury dominate the morning skies.
TCr Borealis is ‘lurking’ … ready to go Nova
The ‘Lunar X’ is coming up
April Moon Phases:
First Quarter: April 5
Lunar X is visible on the 5th
Daylight saving ends on Sunday 6 April
Moon at Apogee April 13
Full Moon: April 13
Last Quarter April 21
Moon at Perigee April 28
New Moon: April 28
Evening Skies:
Jupiter is high in the north-western evening sky when the sky is fully dark. Jupiter forms a line with the stars Aldebaran and Elnath. The Moon joins the line-up Jupiter on the 3rd, and on the 8th, Jupiter is 8 degrees from the crescent moon.
Mars is high in the evening sky, setting just after midnight. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, earlier in the year on January the 16th.
Mercury is lost in the evening twilight, but is moving to morning skies.
… AND HAVE A HUNT FOR VESTA!
Morning Skies:
Saturn returns to the morning twilight. It is near the crescent Moon on the 28t
Mercury is pretty easy
Venus – Easiest
Vesta is difficult, but getting easier as the month progresses
Highlights:
3 April Crescent Moon near Jupiter in Evening twilight.
5 April “Lunar X” visible
5-6 April Mars around 5° from waxing Moon
13 April Apogee Full Moon
16-25 April The Lyrid meteor shower will be visible
25 April Saturn and Venus close in the morning twilight forming a triangle with the thin crescent Moon
26 April Crescent Moon close to Mercury in the morning twilight
Astrophotography Challenges:
- CHASING the ‘Terminator’ on the Moon. Hint: 1/250 sec at ISO 400 every 30 minutes, and making a simple animation.
2. CATCHING The T Coronae Borealis Nova.
The challenge is still … to capture a Nova before and after it blows!
This Nova is ‘overdue’ so all eyes are on it!
Ian’s Tip: use 1sec stacks
T Coronae Borealis last brightened in 1946, and astronomers initially predicted it would brighten again by September 2024.
It’s a variable star in Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, a backward-C-shaped constellation east of Boötes.
T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown constellation some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a dense white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbour.
The Astronomy Astrophiz Podcasts 