April Skylights
April Skylights Mark Dawson, etc
Venus will continue to dominate the pre-midnight evening sky during April, a brilliant beacon hard not to miss! At the start of the month Venus is involved in a spectacular conjunction with the lovely star cluster known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Observe over the first couple of evenings of April as Venus edges ever closer to the cluster, passing through the eastern fringes of the group on April 3rd. The view will be appreciated best through binoculars or a short focal length telescope at low power, which will also reveal the phase of Venus. Remember though that Venus is just a few tens of millions miles away, whereas the Pleiades members reside around 410 light years! A crescent moon lies lower left of Venus on the 27th.
Jupiter, Mars and Saturn can all be found in the dawn sky. Of these, Jupiter is by far the most conspicuous to the eye, residing low in the south-east from 5 am until dawn. To the left of Jupiter, resides Saturn, which is still relatively prominent, but only a quarter of Jupiter’s brilliance. Mars lies further to the east and is the least conspicuous of the three planets. The ‘Red planet’ has a distinct amber hue, but as yet is disappointing when viewed telescopically, the diminutive disk still too distant to reveal detail. Jupiter and Saturn, being far larger, exhibit much to scrutinise in the eyepiece. Jupiter has the cloud belts and Galilean moons, whilst Saturn has the glorious rings, which are still well orientated to us. A word of caution: the low altitude of these planets will make observations somewhat reliant on those moments of ‘good seeing’, so patience at the eyepiece is required. The waning moon passes below Jupiter and Saturn on the 15th and Mars the following morning.
The Stellar Baker’s Dozen
The start of April offers up an interesting stellar challenge, testing the observing dexterity of astronomer, casual or otherwise. The observing challenge revolves around spotting first magnitude stars: those ranked brightest, in the premier league, so to speak.
Dotted around the spring sky piercing the evening twilight, no less than thirteen are visible in April, more than at any other time of year. However, the window of opportunity in which to identify these stellar jewels rapidly diminishes as we head deeper into April, from little over an hour at the start to just fifteen minutes by mid-month. Before you attempt this naked eye test, you will need to seek out a suitable location with uninterrupted views right around the horizon.
Let us assume it is April 8th, at which time twilight deepens around 9pm. Our first port of call lies over in the west, where the mighty hunter Orion is about to lose his right toe, marked by bright Rigel (1) below the horizon. Above Rigel, Orion’s three belt stars are aligned parallel to the west horizon, but the next star on our list, the orange hued Betelgeuse (2), is located above them. Betelgeuse may currently be the faintest it has ever appeared, but it is still ranked in the first magnitude class. A hand span to the right of Betelgeuse and slightly closer to the horizon another orange star, Aldebaran (3), chief star in Taurus is visible in the ‘V’ of the Hyades cluster.
Low in the WSW the brightest star in the night sky, sparkling Sirius (4), is quite unmistakable. (Venus we know dominates the west sky –but it is a planet.)
Having picked out this first clutch of stars there is no time to waste, so raise your sights somewhat higher to pick out the next wave of luminaries.
Starting in the SW again seek out the bright solitary white hue of Procyon (5) in Canis Minor, located above Sirius and to the left of Orion. Due west and higher still, Castor (6) and Pollux (7) denote the twins of Gemini, which is descending feet first down towards the horizon. At a similar altitude to Gemini but further across in the WNW lies brilliant Capella (8) in Auriga, the only circumpolar first magnitude winter star and therefore visible all year round. It will spend the summer months arcing low above the north horizon.
Turn and face due south, where midway up you will encounter bright Regulus (9) in the ‘sickle’ asterism of Leo. Our next two luminaries are located in the east. Due east, brilliant Arcturus (10) in the constellation of Bootes is very noticeable, its soft orange hue contrasting markedly with Sirius, the only star of the baker’s dozen brighter than it. Now for a test within a challenge, see how far into April you can spot both Sirius and Arcturus above the horizon at the same time. We still have three stars to locate, the first of which, Spica (11), chief star in Virgo, will be rising in the SE. Spotting this star when Rigel is still above the horizon is the key to completing the challenge as there is not much time between Rigel setting and Spica rising.
Having viewed west, south and east, we need to direct our gaze towards the north, where low in the NE brilliant steely blue Vega (12) resides in the constellation of Lyra. Vega almost rivals Arcturus in apparent magnitude, but unlike the ‘guardian of the bear” it is circumpolar from Whitby’s latitude.
Our final star, Deneb (13), is located just above the NNE horizon and appears less brilliant than Vega but is the most distant and massive star on our list. It too is circumpolar and along with Vega constitutes two of the three stars forming the ‘summer triangle’.
In less than three months, only Arcturus, Capella, Deneb and Vega will remain of our original stellar baker’s dozen, the rest having set. So, are you up for a fun observing challenge? It will be good for both mind and body – especially during self isolation.
And on this note due to Coronavirus the next scheduled monthly meeting of WDAS will not be until the autumn, although hopefully we shall be hosting star parties later in the summer.
Go to www.whitby-astronomers.com for further information on the night sky and WDAS events.
Whitby and District Astronomical Society meets in room H1, Caedmon College, Normanby campus (Whitby College). New members most welcome.
www.whitby-astronomers.com
Mark Dawson
Venus will continue to dominate the pre-midnight evening sky during April, a brilliant beacon hard not to miss! At the start of the month Venus is involved in a spectacular conjunction with the lovely star cluster known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Observe over the first couple of evenings of April as Venus edges ever closer to the cluster, passing through the eastern fringes of the group on April 3rd. The view will be appreciated best through binoculars or a short focal length telescope at low power, which will also reveal the phase of Venus. Remember though that Venus is just a few tens of millions miles away, whereas the Pleiades members reside around 410 light years! A crescent moon lies lower left of Venus on the 27th.
Jupiter, Mars and Saturn can all be found in the dawn sky. Of these, Jupiter is by far the most conspicuous to the eye, residing low in the south-east from 5 am until dawn. To the left of Jupiter, resides Saturn, which is still relatively prominent, but only a quarter of Jupiter’s brilliance. Mars lies further to the east and is the least conspicuous of the three planets. The ‘Red planet’ has a distinct amber hue, but as yet is disappointing when viewed telescopically, the diminutive disk still too distant to reveal detail. Jupiter and Saturn, being far larger, exhibit much to scrutinise in the eyepiece. Jupiter has the cloud belts and Galilean moons, whilst Saturn has the glorious rings, which are still well orientated to us. A word of caution: the low altitude of these planets will make observations somewhat reliant on those moments of ‘good seeing’, so patience at the eyepiece is required. The waning moon passes below Jupiter and Saturn on the 15th and Mars the following morning.
The Stellar Baker’s Dozen
The start of April offers up an interesting stellar challenge, testing the observing dexterity of astronomer, casual or otherwise. The observing challenge revolves around spotting first magnitude stars: those ranked brightest, in the premier league, so to speak.
Dotted around the spring sky piercing the evening twilight, no less than thirteen are visible in April, more than at any other time of year. However, the window of opportunity in which to identify these stellar jewels rapidly diminishes as we head deeper into April, from little over an hour at the start to just fifteen minutes by mid-month. Before you attempt this naked eye test, you will need to seek out a suitable location with uninterrupted views right around the horizon.
Let us assume it is April 8th, at which time twilight deepens around 9pm. Our first port of call lies over in the west, where the mighty hunter Orion is about to lose his right toe, marked by bright Rigel (1) below the horizon. Above Rigel, Orion’s three belt stars are aligned parallel to the west horizon, but the next star on our list, the orange hued Betelgeuse (2), is located above them. Betelgeuse may currently be the faintest it has ever appeared, but it is still ranked in the first magnitude class. A hand span to the right of Betelgeuse and slightly closer to the horizon another orange star, Aldebaran (3), chief star in Taurus is visible in the ‘V’ of the Hyades cluster.
Low in the WSW the brightest star in the night sky, sparkling Sirius (4), is quite unmistakable. (Venus we know dominates the west sky –but it is a planet.)
Having picked out this first clutch of stars there is no time to waste, so raise your sights somewhat higher to pick out the next wave of luminaries.
Starting in the SW again seek out the bright solitary white hue of Procyon (5) in Canis Minor, located above Sirius and to the left of Orion. Due west and higher still, Castor (6) and Pollux (7) denote the twins of Gemini, which is descending feet first down towards the horizon. At a similar altitude to Gemini but further across in the WNW lies brilliant Capella (8) in Auriga, the only circumpolar first magnitude winter star and therefore visible all year round. It will spend the summer months arcing low above the north horizon.
Turn and face due south, where midway up you will encounter bright Regulus (9) in the ‘sickle’ asterism of Leo. Our next two luminaries are located in the east. Due east, brilliant Arcturus (10) in the constellation of Bootes is very noticeable, its soft orange hue contrasting markedly with Sirius, the only star of the baker’s dozen brighter than it. Now for a test within a challenge, see how far into April you can spot both Sirius and Arcturus above the horizon at the same time. We still have three stars to locate, the first of which, Spica (11), chief star in Virgo, will be rising in the SE. Spotting this star when Rigel is still above the horizon is the key to completing the challenge as there is not much time between Rigel setting and Spica rising.
Having viewed west, south and east, we need to direct our gaze towards the north, where low in the NE brilliant steely blue Vega (12) resides in the constellation of Lyra. Vega almost rivals Arcturus in apparent magnitude, but unlike the ‘guardian of the bear” it is circumpolar from Whitby’s latitude.
Our final star, Deneb (13), is located just above the NNE horizon and appears less brilliant than Vega but is the most distant and massive star on our list. It too is circumpolar and along with Vega constitutes two of the three stars forming the ‘summer triangle’.
In less than three months, only Arcturus, Capella, Deneb and Vega will remain of our original stellar baker’s dozen, the rest having set. So, are you up for a fun observing challenge? It will be good for both mind and body – especially during self isolation.
And on this note due to Coronavirus the next scheduled monthly meeting of WDAS will not be until the autumn, although hopefully we shall be hosting star parties later in the summer.
Go to www.whitby-astronomers.com for further information on the night sky and WDAS events.
Whitby and District Astronomical Society meets in room H1, Caedmon College, Normanby campus (Whitby College). New members most welcome.
www.whitby-astronomers.com
Mark Dawson
