Idaho Skies for April 2016

April 1 – 7

Early birds will find Saturn and Mars to the left of the moon on the morning of the 1^st. The moon is in the constellation of Sagittarius the Archer and one constellation further to the right, which is Scorpius the Scorpion, is located Saturn and Mars. Saturn appears mellow yellow in color while Mars appears a brighter orange. Below Mars is another red-orange beacon, the star Antares. This is very fitting, since Antares is Greek for “Rival of Ares”, their god of war. In Roman, Ares is called Mars.

The moon is located in the low east-southeast on the mornings of the 2^nd and 3^rd. Go out and see if you can see Earthshine on those mornings. You’ll need to out around 5:45 AM in order to see Earthshine. Too much later and the breaking dawn will brighten the eastern horizon too much.  

April 8 – 14

Our innermost planet, Mercury is visible above the western horizon most of this month. That means you can see this seldom observed planet after sunset in April, with the best evenings between the 8^th the 20^th. On the 8^th, Mercury appears as the white star to the right of the moon. You’ll need to go outside a little after 9:00 PM to see this pair. The moon is two days old, so it’s a thin crescent that might be easier to find with a pair of binoculars.

Two very attractive star clusters appear above the moon on the evening of the 9^th. The Pleiades is the little dipper-shape grouping of stars located to the upper right of the moon and the Hyades is the much larger and sparser V-shaped cluster of stars appearing to the upper left of the moon. Both star clusters make excellent objects for inspection through your binoculars.   

The brightest star in the Hyades star cluster is called Aldebaran. However, Aldebaran is not a part of the cluster; it’s actually a foreground star. The moon appears very close to this foreground star on the evening of the 10^th. Their distance apart is so close that you’ll be able to see both the crescent Moon and Aldebaran together in a pair of binoculars.     

Looking for Gemini the Twins? On the evening of the 12^th, you’ll find the moon at the feet of Gemini. The scene should vaguely resemble a footballer (at least from the waist down) kicking a soccer ball. The Gemini Twins in this case are the player’s legs and waist. The star at the top left of Gemini is Pollux and the star at the top right is slightly fainter Castor.  

 

The moon reaches first quarter phase on the 13^th. Therefore, if you want to see the most spectacular views of the moon through a telescope, or even binoculars, you can’t go wrong taking a peek at the moon on the evening of the 13^th.

Another nice star cluster is the Beehive. And it just so happens that the moon passes 5 degrees below this star cluster on the night of the 14^th. The distance between the Beehive and the moon is just right for most binoculars. Meaning if you place the moon at the bottom of your binoculars view of view, the Beehive will appear just at the top. Your best view of the Beehive occurs when you raise the binoculars high enough to get the moon out of the field of view and place the Beehive in the center. The Beehive appears like a swarm of stars, and not unlike a swarm of bees.  

April 15 – 21

You’ll find a bright yellow-white star 3 degrees above the moon on the night of the 17^th. That bright star is actually a planet, the planet Jupiter and the largest planet in the solar system. Through your binoculars, you’ll see three of its largest satellites after it gets dark at around 10:00 PM. However, if you observe again after 11:00, you’ll find that dim Ganymede has grown much brighter, meaning you’ll be able to see Jupiter’s four largest satellites. The reason Ganymede brightens so much is that it’s traveling out of Jupiter’s shadow between 10:00 and 11:00 PM.  

Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation on the 19^th. Elongations are only possible for inferior planets, or those planets closer to the sun than Earth, namely Mercury and Venus. Elongations occur when the position of an inferior planet places it at its greatest distances from the sun with respect to Earth. As a result of this larger than average distance from the sun, the inferior planets are at their easiest to see at times of greatest elongations. Your best view of Mercury takes place on the evening of the 19^th. So plan to be outside at 9:30 and look in the low west-northwest. The first bright white star you see above the horizon is Mercury. Check up on Mercury over the next few days and you’ll notice that it’s getting closer to the horizon each night. By about the 28^th, the planet will be too close to the horizon for you to see anymore.  

There’s a lonely white star below the moon on the 20^th. The star is Spica, the brightest star in the otherwise dim constellation of Virgo the Maiden. Spica means “sheaf of wheat” and Virgo represents Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, a harvest goddess of the ancient Greeks. In the past, the sun passed through Virgo from the end of August to the end of September, or during the time of harvest.   

April 22 – 30

The moon reaches full on the night of the 21^st. The full moon in April is called the Egg Moon in some cultures. You won’t see many craters and mountains on the moon tonight, but you will see its lunar seas (or maria) very well. 

The Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak intensity on the night of the 21^st and morning of the 22^nd. Lyrid meteors appear to originate in the constellation of Lyra the Lyre, near its brightest star Vega. You’ll find this star in the low east-northeast after 10:00 PM. In good dark skies, one can see upwards of 15 meteors per hour from this shower. And some of them will be exceptionally bright and leave trails. Unfortunately, the moon is full tonight and its light will wash the sky clean of the fainter meteors in this shower. However, it still might be worth the effort to observe this shower.   

There’s a star to the lower right of the moon late on the night of the 22^nd. The star has the name Zubenelgenubi. What makes it special, aside from its rather unique name is that it’s a double star that you can resolve as two separate stars though binoculars. Some people may even be capable of this feat with just their eyes. Most stars come in pairs or even triples in orbit around each other, but most can’t be seen as multiple stars through binoculars. Zubenelgenubi is just one such star that you can see as separate stars.  

Looking for Mars and Saturn? You’ll find the ringed and red planets below the moon on the night of the 25^th. Mars, in guise as a relatively bright orangish-red star, is located to the lower right of the moon. Saturn appears as a creamy-white star to the lower left of the moon. Don’t confuse Mars for Antares. Mars and Antares have similar colors, but Antares is a star and it’s located farther below Mars.  

Let the moon lead you to a bunch of nebulae and star clusters that you can see in binoculars on the 27th. These astronomical objects surround the core of our galaxy and are therefore located within the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. Scan the region to the right of the moon, both up and down. The clusters and nebulae will appear as small fuzzy clouds or small sprinkles of stars.  

The moon reaches last quarter phase on the 29^th. Last quarter is another good moon phase because it shows lots of lunar terrain detail, just like first quarter phase. You’ll need to go outside after midnight to see the moon in the last quarter phase.