The Sky in April

05 Apr – First Quarter Moon

11 Apr – Mercury (mag 0.9) and Saturn (mag 1.2) hang 7º below brilliant Venus (mag -4.7) low above the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise (~6AM)

12 Apr – Full Moon (20:22EDT)

18 Apr – waning gibbous Moon reaches nearly the most southerly declination it can, just off the spout of the Sagittarius teapot.

20 Apr – Last Quarter Moon

21 Apr – Mercury at greatest elongation west - very poor apparition due to low tilt of the ecliptic relative to the dawn horizon.

21 Apr – Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight - best viewing will be midnight to dawn on the 22nd; a relatively minor shower with occasional bursts

25 Apr – Venus (mag -4.8), Saturn (mag 1.2), and the thin crescent Moon (look for the earthshine) form a 5º triangle low in the east before sunrise. Mercury (mag 0.3) is 7º down and left from the Moon.

26 Apr – 4 Vesta (mag 5.6), the only minor planet visible to the naked eye, passes just 0.2 lower right of 4.5mag 16 Librae.

27 Apr – New Moon (15:31EDT)

27 Apr – Venus at greatest illuminated extent in the morning sky.