Current Night Sky: April 2019

The Moon & Planets: 
Saturn

Early in April, Saturn rises by 3:00 am local daylight time, and stays visible until dawn. The rings are tilted towards us by 24°. A modest telescope should reveal a handful of moons; here, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea (left to right) lie close to the planet. Titan is at upper right and Iapetus at lower left (April 9, 4:30 am EDT).

The waning gibbous Moon passes close to Jupiter on April 23; in the early morning, they are within 2° of each other. Jupiter is in the middle of the line-up, with Callisto and Io to its left, and Ganymede and Europa to its right (April 23, 5:00 am EDT).

Evening Planets (after sunset): 
  • Uranus, W
  • Mars, W
Morning Planets (before sunrise): 
  • Jupiter, S
  • Saturn, SE
  • Neptune, E
  • Venus, E
  • Mercury, E
Comets: 

There are no comets brighter than magnitude 8 currently visible.

Meteors: 

The Lyrid meteors peak on April 22, but are poor this year. The waning gibbous Moon visible after midnight will drown out the fainter meteors.

Phases of the Moon: 
New Moon April 5 4:50 am EDT
First Quarter Moon April 12 3:06 pm EDT
Full Moon April 19 7:12 am EDT
Last Quarter Moon April 26 6:18 pm EDT

Text, graphics, and animations by John Sheff. Graphics courtesy of Starry Night(©) Pro Plus 7 / Imaginova(©) Corp. Starry Night images are used with permission from Imaginova Corp. Starry Night is a registered trademark of Imaginova Corp. Star charts generated by Starry Night Pro Plus 7 © Imaginova Corp. All rights reserved. www.StarryNight.com