April Skies

01 Apr – Last Quarter Moon
01 Apr – zodiacal light visible in the western sky after sunset for the next ~9 days
    – gegenschein visible under very dark skies for the next ~10 days
06 Apr  – Mars (mag 1.2), Saturn (mag 1.1) and a thin crescent Moon are in a tight triangle very low in the ESE sky shortly before sunrise, binoculars probably required.
07 Apr  – daytime occultation of Venus by a very thin crescent Moon about 12:45EDT only 15º from the Sun; be very careful not to get the Sun in your telescope: use a solar filter to focus on the Sun then use go-to or angle offsets to point at Venus - only then remove the solar filter.
08 Apr – International Deep Sky Week starts
08 Apr – New Moon (14:21EDT)
08 Apr – TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE (15:25EDT)
10&11 Apr – Mars 0.5º from Saturn – very low in the dawn sky before sunrise, use a telescope to see Saturn’s rings 37 arcsec wide compared with Mars’s 4.5” diameter.
11 Apr - thin crescent Moon about 4º from Jupiter (mag -2.0) low in the WNW after sunset.  Much dimmer Uranus (mag 5.8) is under 2º above Jupiter and the Pleiades star cluster gleams about 9º above the group.  Finally, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is 4º down and left of Jupiter.
15 Apr – First Quarter Moon
19&20 Apr – Uranus (mag 5.8) 0.5º N of Jupiter (mag -2.0) low in the WNW shortly after sunset
21 Apr – Lyrid meteor shower peaks after midnight – up to 20 meteors per hour but badly affected by the nearly full Moon
22 Apr - asteroid 6 Hebe at opposition
23 Apr – Full Moon (20:49EDT)
29 Apr – Neptune (mag 7.9) 0.2º N of Mars (mag 1.1) – very low in the ESE as civil twilight begins – a telescope will be required.

Comet Activity
C/2021 S3 PANSTARRS starts the month in western Vulpecula probably around mag 8, dimming very slowly through the month as it moves up the spine of Cygnus.  On the morning of the 18th it is near nebula Sh2-101; on the 23rd it is near the Crescent Nebula NGC6888; through the last few days of the month it passes through the western edge of the extensive nebulosity around the star Sadr.
12P/Pons-Brooks begins the month at about mag 5 low above the W horizon at the end of nautical twilight about 14º right of Jupiter.  It is 4º below Jupiter on the 14th.  As sunset gets earlier the comet will be lower and lower at the end of twilight.

Major Planets at Mid-month
Jupiter (mag -2.0) and Uranus are low in the WNW at the end of evening twilight and moving toward conjunction with the Sun next month.
Mercury (mag -1) is getting higher above the western horizon at the end of twilight as it approaches its best-of-the-year GEE on the 24th.
Mars, Saturn (both at mag 1.15!) and Neptune (mag 8.0) are very low in the ESE sky during morning twilight.
Venus (mag -3.8) rises only 20min before the Sun and is probably best observed during daylight (watch out for the Sun!)
Mercury (mag 5.0) is just coming out from behind the Sun and by month’s end may be visible very low in the E before sunrise.

See also: Fred Barrett's monthly newspaper column.