As you’ll be taught on this month’s Sky Tour astronomy podcast, the Moon circles across the complete sky every month and — alongside the best way — passes by many vivid stars and planets.
For instance, earlier than daybreak on April sixth, you will discover the crescent Moon about 5° — half of a fist — beneath the planet Saturn. Off to the left is way brighter Jupiter. Sooner or later later, on the seventh, the Moon has slid to the left and is now 5° beneath Jupiter. As soon as it reappears within the night sky, it passes close to the intense star Aldebaran on the 15th, sitting beneath Mars on the 16th, and slides simply to the left of the intense star Pollux on the 19th.
Sky & Telescope
It is likely to be spring, however most of winter’s vivid stars are nonetheless hanging round within the hours after sundown. Within the west, Orion is getting fairly low. Above the distinctive horizontal row of three stars that kind the hunter’s belt is reddish star Betelgeuse and beneath it’s the icy white star Rigel.
To the belt’s decrease left, by about two fists, is Sirius, the brightest star within the nighttime sky. This beacon marks the collar of one among Orion’s searching canines, Canis Main. The opposite one, Canis Minor, is a little bit greater up. Search for its considerably dimmer anchor star, referred to as Procyon.
Excessive up and virtually overhead round 9 o’clock is the distinctive constellation Leo, the Lion. He’s dealing with to the precise, together with his head and mane forming an enormous backward query mark that’s a little bit larger than your clenched fist. On the backside of that sample is Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, that means “little king”. It’s also possible to think about these stars as an enormous sickle, the sharp, long-bladed hand device that farmers as soon as used to reap grain.
These are only a few of the highlights lined throughout April’s partaking and informative Sky Tour astronomy podcast. Simply head exterior, then obtain or stream it to your audio gadget — and also you’ll get a personally guided tour of what’s seen this month.
Source link
