Fans of the Moon love spring.
But for Northern Hemisphere watchers, they have an unparalleled view of the lunar crescent. They see a horizon of orange. Through telescopes, peaks and crater walls and mountains that lie near the limb form shadows delighting selenophiles (lunatics). Expect an amazing view on April 2, just before sunset. Look for 2 craters on the eastern side of the moon.
Two big craters next to Mare
Fecunditatis called Langrenus and Petavius. On April 3, Mare
Fecunditatis (the Sea of Fertility) appears in its entility. The next evening, the view will appear similar to this photo (bottom)
The sunspots are at the number
122. On March 29th at 17:52 UT, the magnetic canopy of sunspot
AR2017 erupted, producing a brief but intense X1-class solar flare. Radiation from the flare led to a rare magnetic crochet. A magnetic crochet is a ripple in
Earth’s magnetic field caused by electrical currents flowing in air.
More flares are possible later.
Mercury will be in the morning twilight. It comes from the midnorthern latitudes on the 1 st of
April and it will be seen during the month at the same time.
Venus rises in the east before dawn. The good planet pokes above the horizon about 2 hours before the Sun in early April and
20 minutes later by the end. At a magnitude at –4.3 in the middle of April, it’s the brightest point of light in the sky. With a telescope, experience the slow

changes in the planet’s appearance.
Mars rises in the east with Virgo.
The red planet is at opposition at
April 8 th . It rises near sunset and is up in the sky by a little after midnight. It uses its reflected light to make a magnitude of –
1.5, beating the sky’s brightest star of all time: Sirius. But of course, Mars is a planet, not a star. doesn’t fall more than 14.6” all month. Mars’s light passes through less of Earth’s good atmosphere when it is higher in the sky, which makes the observing better. The times are around midnight for that.
If you plan to look at Mars closely, there are many things to see on Mars. This month, the white north polar cap on the
North Pole is highly seen because the pole is tilted at about 23 degrees toward Earth and the white of the polar cap reflects most of the sunlight that collides with it. Since it is early summer in Mars’s northern hemisphere, the cap will shrink during April. The picture below shows Mars’ northern polar cap.
The war god comes to its closest approach to Earth after its opposition with the sun. It appears 15.2” across through a telescope. But its diameter

During the month, Mars’ surface changes also. In the first week,
Mare Cimerium in the south while the plains of Utopia make a dark band around the North
Polar Region. Opposition on April
8 th and 9 th , Martian deserts are available to see but dark features won’t be seen much till the 15 th . On that day, at midnight, dark patches of Mare
Erythraeum and Aurorae Sinus below the equator and Acidalia
Planitia at the northern polar region appear on Mars. The final week of April will focus on Syrtis
Major.
Jupiter’s diameter shrinks from
38” to 35”during April. Series of alternating bright zones and dark belts that run parallel to the equator. The amazing Red Spot of Jupiter was seen conspicuous earlier this year. The planet’s altitude after sunset is high. It will provide telescopes 2-3 hours of viewing.
The moons of Jupiter put on a show this year. Now they’re back on April 21. After 11 P.M., 3 moons—Io, Europa, Callisto— make a straight line west of the giant planet. A few minutes before 11 P.M., Io moves eastward, carrying it between
Europa and Callisto. The alignment lasts no more than 15 minutes. Bonus: Europa’s shadow falls on the Jovian cloud tops throughout this period.
This month, Saturn brightens from magnitude 0.3 to 0.1. It makes it about 10 times brighter than any of the background stars in the constellation Libra. The planet rises at 10:30 at night
(local daylight time) in early
April. Saturn will reach opposition in May and with a telescope, you will see the astounding ringed planet during
April. Best views after midnight.
In the middle of April, Saturn’s disk measures 18” across. The rings span 42” and tilt 22

degrees. It’s a great time to see the rings.
Saturn with its rings. Shadow is also visible.
Track down Saturn’s moons with a telescope. Titan will be at magnitude 8. With a 4-inch instrument, you can see Tethys,
Dione, and Rhea, all at magnitude 10. Iapetus lies farthest west of the planet in mid-April. Its dark hemisphere turns toward Earth.
Uranus stood on the Sun‘s far side on the night of April 1 st .
Astronomers won’t be able to see much of Uranus even at the end of the month, when it rises during twilight.
On April 12, Venus passes 0.7 degrees north of Neptune.
Neptune lies 37 times farther from Earth, glowing dimly at magnitude 7.9. But seeing it will be a very hard thing to do.
Pallas was discovered in 1802 by
German astronomer Heinrich
Olbers. He saw that an object was moving across the sky every night. It was also not in his sky charts. You can see it this month.
When dusk goes down into darkness, Pallas flies high over in the south, close to the red
Regulus in Leo the Lion, glowing at magnitude 8. Many background stars have similar magnitude to Pallas so make sure to check your sky chart to see which star is where and

which star is not on the sky map.
In diameter, Pallas is ranked 2 nd .
Its diameter is 325 miles and it’s barely half the size of Ceres, the largest asteroid and the smallest dwarf planet. When April closes to an end, Pallas will appear to a nearby variable star that pulses over a 313 day cycle called R
Leonis. The star is 4 months past its peak and it is deep orange so it should make it a snap to identify it!
The bright moon hides this year’s Lyrid meteor shower. The show happens before the moon phase goes to a Last Quarter.
People will witness few Lyrids a little after. At that same time, you can enjoy viewing Mars and
Saturn.
Comet PANSTARRS shows up nicely this month. In magnitude
9, PANSTARRS is now passing by the middle of the constellations
Bootes and Canes Venatici. At the end of the month, it will be next to the Ursa Major. The best views are in early April and late
April.
Comet PanSTARRS in 2013