April 2022 – What’s Up!

Week of 25th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:41 BST at the start of the week and at 23:00 BST by the end of the week
  • The planets are lining up in the morning sky. Look just above the southeastern horizon shortly before sunrise to see (from east to west): Jupiter (mag -2.1), Venus (-4.1), Mars (+0.9) and Saturn (+0.9). The waning crescent Moon passes a few degrees below the planets through the course of the week
  • Mercury (+0.4) reaches Greatest Eastern Elongation on Friday and will be visible about 11° above the western horizon after sunset
  • On Sunday morning, Jupiter (-2.1) and Venus (-4.1) will be in conjunction, separated by less than half a degree – a fine sight for binoculars or a small telescope
  • The Moon is New on Saturday
  • The Sun currently has seven active regions: AR 2991, 2993, 2994, 2995, 2996, 2997 & 2998. The sunspot number is 118
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week

Week of 18th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:21 BST at the start of the week and at 22:38 BST by the end of the week
  • The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on Friday evening. It is a relatively small shower with a zenithal hourly rate of only around 15 meteors. However, it can occasionally produce a much more active shower with a ZHR of up to 100, so it is worth keeping an eye out in case it does so this year! The radiant is in the constellation of Lyra and the shower’s parent body is comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher)
  • The Moon is Last Quarter on Saturday
  • The Sun currently has six active regions: AR 2989, 2990, 2991, 2992, 2993 & 2994. The sunspot number is 78
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week

 

Week of 11th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:02 BST at the start of the week and at 22:18 BST by the end of the week
  • The Moon is Full on Saturday – the Pink Moon
  • This week’s Full Moon is also known as the Paschal Full Moon as it defines when Easter is celebrated – being on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox, which will be this Sunday
  • The Sun currently has three active regions: AR 2978, 2983 & 2985. The sunspot number is 37
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week

 

Week of 4th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 21:46 BST at the start of the week and at 22:00 BST by the end of the week
  • Tuesday morning sees a conjunction of Saturn (+0.9) and Mars (+1.0), when they will be separated by only 19 arc minutes. Venus (-4.3) is about 7° to the east. Look to the southeastern horizon just before sunrise
  • Galaxy season is here! The area of sky between the tail of Leo, the bowl of Virgo and Coma Berenices is full of galaxies, including the elliptical galaxy M88 or Virgo A, the largest member of our own galaxy group, the Virgo Cluster. Galaxies generally appear as ‘faint fuzzy blobs’ in amateur instruments, understandable given their distance, M88 is 55 million light years away and has an apparent magnitude of +8.7, so you will need a dark night to spot it
  • The Moon is First Quarter on Saturday
  • The Sun currently has seven active regions: AR 2975, 2976, 2978, 2981, 2982, 2983 & 2984. The sunspot number is 118
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week

 

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