The Sky in April

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.

The Sky in May

02 May – Venus (mag -4.8) and Saturn (mag 1.2) are just 4º apart, Mercury (mag 0.1) is 17º lower left of Venus and about 05:40EDT the ISS (mag 0.8) passes by the planetary triangle. All this happens very low in the eastern sky shortly before sunrise.

02 May – (4) Vesta (mag 5.6) at opposition - the only minor planet visible to the unaided eye.

03 May – Moon occults γ Cnc, Mars & M44 nearby (about 22:00EDT)

03 May – (2778) Tangshan occults UCAC4 569-042951 (mag 12.0) from Winchester to Morrisburg (about 23:00EDT)

04 May – First Quarter Moon

04&05 May – Mars skirts the northern edge of open cluster M44

05 May – Saturn ring plane passes north of the Sun - no visible shadow of the rings on the planet

06 May.– η Aqu meteor shower (dust particles from Comet Halley) peaks (best from 3-4AM)

09 May – (9) Metis (mag 9.6) at opposition

10 May – (28116) Kunovac occults UCAC4 369-066424 (mag 12.0) from Centreville to eastern Kingston (about 22:00EDT)

12 May – Full Moon (12:56EDT)

20 May – Last Quarter Moon

22-24 May – watch the thin crescent Moon pass Saturn (mag 1.1) and then 175-times-brighter Venus (mag -4.5) low in the eastern dawn sky

26 May – very old (18.5hrs before new) Moon extremely low in ENE just before sunrise

26 May – New Moon (23:02EDT)

28 May – very young (21.5hrs after new) Moon extremely low in NW just after sunset

29 May – (16955) 1998 KU48 occults UCAC4 354-181493 from Bellrock through Yarker and Centreville to Bath (about 03:20EDT)

31 May – Titan's shadow starts to transit Saturn's disk shortly before sunrise

31 May – Venus (mag ) at Greatest Elongation West from the Sun in the dawn sky.