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| Click to open at full size
(129kb) To use this month's chart as a desktop background on your computer, open the full size image, right-click (Windows)/Ctrl-click (Macintosh) and choose 'Download image to disk'. |
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Click to open at full size
(82kb) To print this file, open the full size image, right-click (Windows)/Ctrl-click (Macintosh) and choose 'Download image to disk'. Then open the file into a suitable program (such as Adobe PhotoShop) and select 'Print'. |
During April we'll have a meteor shower and of planetary observations to make.
The Lyrid meteor shower begins around April 19, reaches its peak on the 22nd and is over by April 25. This is not a particularly good shower, averaging only 10 meteors per hour, but anything can happen. If you have nothing better to do at around 3 o' clock in the morning during those nights (!), step outside and watch the skies. At that time the constellation of Lyra, the 'source' of the Lyrid shower, should be right overhead. The parent comet of this shower is Comet Thatcher.
With regard to the Moon, our celestial neighbour is at first quarter on April 5, full on the 13th, last quarter on the 21st and finally new Moon on the 27th.
The planets at sunrise
Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on April 8. On that morning Mercury will be in a good position for viewing, rising about an hour before sunrise, almost 28 degrees west of the Sun. Afterwards, Mercury appears to change direction and starts to head towards the sunrise as each morning progresses. By the end of the month Mercury will be lost in the pre-dawn glare.
On April 26 the nearly new Moon will pass about four degrees North of Mercury.
Venus rises almost two hours before the Sun, and is the brightest object (apart from the Moon) in the pre-dawn sky.
The planets at sunset
Mars starts the month in Taurus with and during April it moves into Gemini as it dims.
Jupiter rises around 2230 and is the brightest object in the constellation of Libra, roughly midway between the star Spica in Virgo and Antares in Scorpius.
Saturn is the lonely object in Cancer. If you are fortunate enough to have a telescope, good binoculars or a dark sky you will see the ringed planet is pretty close to M44 the Beehive cluster.
On April 23, the waning Moon passes four degrees North of Saturn.
With magnification and experience you can see
Uranus is in the centre of Aquarius - but it is too dim to be seen with the unaided eye except from dark sky sites.
Neptune is in the centre of Capricornus but its magnitude makes it impossible to see without optical aid and detailed maps.
Pluto is in eastern Serpentis but, at a magnitude of 14, it is well beyond the sight of all but the best telescopes.
In history ...
On the 2nd of April 1845 the first photograph of the Sun was taken (with special filters).
Frank Drake began Project Ozma, the first search for extraterrestrial radio transmissions, on April 11th 1960. He found nothing.
One year and one day later (April 12, 1961) Yuri Gagarin became the first Earthling in space. He completed one orbit of our world in his spaceship Vostok 1.
Twenty years later (April 12, 1981) the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, carried Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young into space. Two days later they reentered the Earth's atmosphere and glided to a landing, like a plane, proving that the Shuttle could be reused for further flights.
The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed on April 25 1990. Four weeks later the first images from the scope showed there was something seriously wrong with the optics. It was later determined that years before, during production, a misplaced fleck of paint had introduced an error into the curvature of the 2.4 meter mirror - making it too shallow by 0.002 millimeters! This caused 'spherical aberration' and it was impossible to focus the 'scope. Some projects could continue but Hubble was unable to carry out its complete mission. In December 1993 the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour captured the telescope and repaired it by introducing an extra optical aid (that acts like corrective glasses).
If you want a further insight into the best objects to observe during each month, why not come along to one of our Workshop meetings held at Jodrell Bank Observatory on the first Tuesday of every month? (> more info.)
Finally, don't forget that informal observing sessions are held at the Red Lion public house near Goostrey on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month starting at approximately 2100. Ample car parking is available.
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 March
and April updates ...!Apologies for the late updating of the MAS website for March. As a result I decided to put twice as much work into the update and include April too ... Some of us (depending on when you're reading this) will be either getting excited at the prospect of going to see March's total solar eclipse, or wondering when on Earth the next one will be - thinking 'I simply must see another one!' No doubt images of the beautiful event will adorn the pages of this website in the coming weeks. The following sections have been updated: This month's night sky, Observations and Gallery. 
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