Jupiter and the crescent moon start off and end the month together. Find out where to see Mars and Venus as well. The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of April 21-22. Amazing globular cluster M3 is also available for skywatchers this month.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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TechTranscript
00:00What's up for April?
00:04Planets at dusk and dawn, April showers,
00:08and observing a distant city of stars.
00:12First up in the evening sky, we begin and end the month
00:16with Jupiter and the crescent moon shining brightly together in the western
00:20sky as sunset fades. On both April 1st and 30th
00:24you can find the charming pair about half an hour after sunset,
00:28setting about three hours later. Mars is high overhead in the
00:32south on April evenings. At the start of the month it's directly in between
00:36bright stars Procyon and Pollux, but it moves
00:40noticeably during the month. You'll find the first quarter moon
00:44right next to Mars on April 4th and 5th. Moving to the
00:48morning sky, Venus has now made the switch from an evening object to a
00:52morning one. You may start to notice it rising low in the east before dawn
00:56looking a little higher each morning through the month. Around April
01:0024th and 25th you'll find
01:02Venus, Saturn, and the
01:04crescent moon gathered low in the east
01:06as dawn warms up the morning sky.
01:08Those with a clear view to the
01:10horizon may also pick out Mercury
01:12looking bright but very low in the
01:14sky.
01:16April brings shooting stars
01:18as Earth passes through one of the
01:20streams of comet dust that create our
01:22annual meteor showers.
01:24The Lyrids are a modest meteor
01:26shower that peaks overnight on April
01:2821st and into the morning of the
01:3022nd. You can expect up to
01:3215 meteors per hour near the peak
01:34under dark skies. The Lyrids are
01:36best observed from the northern hemisphere
01:38but can be seen from south of the equator as well.
01:40View them after about 10.30pm
01:42local time until dawn with the best
01:44viewing around 5am.
01:46The waning crescent moon will
01:48rise around 3.30am but at only
01:5027% full it shouldn't interfere
01:52too much with your meteor watching.
01:54For the best experience, face
01:56roughly toward the east, lie down
01:58in a safe, dark place away from
02:00bright lights and look straight overhead.
02:02Meteors can appear anywhere in the
02:04sky and some Lyrids can leave
02:06bright trails that last for a few seconds
02:08after they've passed.
02:10NASA studies meteors from the ground,
02:12in the air, and from orbit to
02:14forecast meteor activity and protect
02:16the spacecraft and to understand the
02:18composition of comets and asteroids
02:20throughout the solar system.
02:22April offers a chance to observe
02:24a truly distant wonder,
02:26a globular cluster known as
02:28M3. It's a vast
02:30collection of stars that
02:32lies 34,000 light-years
02:34from Earth in our galaxy's outer
02:36reaches. Astronomer Charles
02:38Messier discovered this object in
02:401764 while searching
02:42for new comets. Realizing
02:44that wasn't one, he added it to his
02:46list of interesting objects that were
02:48not comets, which today we know
02:50as Messier's catalog.
02:52Through binoculars, Messier 3,
02:54or M3, appears as a small
02:56fuzzy, star-like patch of light.
02:58With a small telescope,
03:00you'll see a more defined glow
03:02with a slightly grainy texture.
03:04And with a telescope 8 inches or
03:06larger, the cluster begins to resolve
03:08into hundreds of individual stars.
03:10Now, globular clusters contain
03:12some of the oldest stars in the
03:14universe, often over 10 billion
03:16years old. Unlike open
03:18clusters like the Pleiades, which sit
03:20within the Milky Way's spiral arms,
03:22globular clusters are found in the
03:24galaxy's halo, orbiting
03:26far above and below the Milky Way's
03:28disk. Our galaxy has around
03:30150 confirmed globular clusters.
03:32M3 itself is probably
03:3411 to 13 billion years
03:36old and contains around half
03:38a million stars. And it's
03:40relatively easy to find in April under
03:42dark skies, with binoculars or a small
03:44telescope. Finding M3
03:46starts with the Big Dipper.
03:48Facing east, use the
03:50Dipper's handle to arc to
03:52Arcturus, the fourth-brightest star
03:54in the night sky. From there,
03:56look higher in the sky to find the
03:58star Kor Kauruli, located here
04:00to the west of the Dipper's handle.
04:02It's about as bright as this star in
04:04the Dipper's cup. M3 is
04:06located roughly a third of the way from
04:08Arcturus to Kor Kauruli.
04:10With binoculars or a finderscope,
04:12sweep within this area until you
04:14spot a faint, round glow.
04:16M3 is an excellent target
04:18for beginners and seasoned observers
04:20alike. Whether using binoculars
04:22or a telescope, you'll be rewarded
04:24with a view of one of the oldest
04:26objects in our galaxy.
04:28Here are the phases of the Moon
04:30for April.
04:32Stay up to date on all of
04:34NASA's missions exploring the solar
04:36system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.
04:38I'm Preston Dyches from
04:40NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
04:42and that's what's up for this month.