Skywatch Line for Friday, April 5, through Sunday, April 7, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, April 5, through Sunday, April 7, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:30am and sets at 7:27pm; Moon rises at 5:08am and sets at 3:41pm.
In the morning twilight of Friday and Saturday, the slender waning Moon, edging closer and closer to the sun in our sky, will float near Mars and Saturn. The lit portion of the Moon will point toward the two planets on these mornings. Use binoculars, if you need them, to sweep near the sunrise horizon for the planets. Your binoculars will also enhance their interesting color contrast, with Mars red and Saturn golden. Watch for these two planets on Monday during the solar eclipse.
The Moon will reach perigee, its closest point to Earth for this month, on Sunday. New moon is Monday, making this the 4th new supermoon of this year and the 4th of five new supermoons in a row. On Sunday, the Moon is 223,575 miles away from Earth.
Jupiter appears low in the west shortly after sunset in the first three weeks of April. At the beginning of the month, Jupiter sets about three hours after sunset. Jupiter will lie near the delicate Pleiades star cluster. Jupiter, at magnitude –2.1 in the constellation of Aries, is the bright “star” shining due west in twilight, not very high. It sinks lower after dark and sets around 10 p.m. It’s the only easy planet in the entire sky now.
Mars, at magnitude +1.2 in the constellation of Aquarius, rises after dawn begins. Try for it just above the east-southeast horizon about 45 minutes before sunrise. Binoculars help.
Saturn, at magnitude +1.1, is still probably invisible in bright dawn. If you catch Mars in binoculars, however, look for Saturn to its lower left, especially later in the week. Their separation narrows to 2½° on Saturday.
Uranus, at magnitude 5.8 in the constellation of Aries, hides about 4° above Jupiter in the early evening sky. Immediately after dark, after you’re done with Comet Pons-Brooks nearby, use your binoculars to find Uranus with the finder charts.
Shortly after nightfall around this time of year, Arcturus, the bright Spring Star climbing in the east, stands just as high as Sirius, the brighter Winter Star descending in the southwest. These are the two brightest stars in the sky at the time. Capella is a very close runner-up to Arcturus. Spot it high in the northwest.
The two Dog Stars stand vertically aligned around the end of twilight. Sirius in Canis Major is the bottom one, and Procyon in Canis Minor is high above it.
High above the Big Dipper late these evenings, nearly crossing the zenith, are three pairs of dim naked-eye stars, all 3rd or 4th magnitude, marking the Great Bear’s feet. They’re also known as the Three Springs, or Leaps, of the Gazelle, from early Arab lore. They form an east-west line that lies roughly midway between the Bowl of the Big Dipper and the Sickle of Leo. The line is three fists long. According to the ancient
Arabian story, the gazelle was drinking at a pond, the big dim Coma Berenices star cluster, and bounded away when startled by a flick of Leo’s nearby tail, Denebola. Another version sees Coma Berenices as Leo’s extended tailtip and the pond as formed by stars in Ursa Major.