April 1998

by Steve Stefanik

The familiar wintertime constellations of Orion, Taurus, Canis Major and Minor are low in the west as the April sun sets. The planets Saturn, Mars, and Mercury set an hour after the sun leaving no visible planets in the nighttime sky. But don’t despair. The springtime constellations of Leo the lion is directly overhead and Virgo is right behind with their myriad galaxies for deepsky observing provided you have a telescope. Bootes the herdsman, Hercules of mythological fame, and Ophiuchus the serpent bearer are rising in the east heralding the arrival of Spring.

The planet Mercury passes inferior conjunction with the sun tommorrow and enters the morning sky but puts on a poor apparition this time around.

The astronomical event of the month will be the conjunction of the magnitude -2.0 planet Jupiter with the brilliant -4.0 magnitude planet Venus in the eastern pre-dawn sky. Jupiter closes in on Venus, 5 degrees per week, until it is within 5 degrees of it on the morning of the 17th. They will be within 2.3 degrees of each other on the 20th, 1.4 degrees on the 21st, and 0.5 degree on the mornings of the 22nd and 23rd. The waning crescent moon will be within 12 degrees to the left of the pair on the 23rd which should make for a spectacular photographic opportunity provided its not cloudy. Mercury joins the show the last week of the month about 20 degrees lower and to the left of Venus and Jupiter.

Saturn is unobservable as it reaches conjunction with the sun on April 13. Mars is lost in the sun’s glare as it heads toward conjunction with the sun on May 12. Uranus and Neptune are in the constellation Capricorn low in the southeast before dawn. Pluto is well placed high in the south among the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus in the early morning hours but you need at least an 8 inch diameter telescope to spot it.

The annual Lyrid meteor showers peak during the night of April 21/22. You could see as many as 8 to 14 per hour because the waning crescent moon shouldn’t wash out the sky.