April 2024 – What’s Up!

Week of 29th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:55 BST at the start of the week and at 23:15 BST by the end of the week.
  • The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks on Sunday evening, with a ZHR of 40 meteors per hour. The progenitor of the shower is comet 1P/Halley.
  • The favourable Moon phase means it’s time to go deep with a telescope this week and hunt down three galaxies. First is M64, the Black Eye Galaxy (+8.4) in Coma Berenices at 14 million light years (Mly) away, next head south to M87, Virgo A (+8.7), at 55 Mly from Earth in Virgo, this is the largest member of the Virgo cluster, which the Milky Way is part of, finally, we head close to the southern border of Virgo to search out M104, the Sombrero Galaxy (+8.1) at 28 Mly. Good luck!
  • The Moon is Last Quarter on Wednesday.
  • The Sun currently has 9 active regions and the sunspot number is 126.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week.
    (For full details about ISS passes click this link: heavens-above-iss-passes to visit the heavens-above website. If you are not in Marlborough, please ensure that you set your location for the most accurate ISS timings).

 

Week of 22nd April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:33 BST at the start of the week and at 22:51 BST by the end of the week.
  • The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on Monday morning, with a ZHR of 18 meteors per hour. The progenitor of the shower is comet C/1861 G1(Thatcher). Given the timing of the peak and the bright Moon, the best place to watch the peak is on the radio meteor detector live stream.
  • This week’s deep sky targets are two globular clusters, bright enough to be seen in the moonlight. The first is M3 (mag +6.2) in Canes Venatici, just west of Bootes, and the second is M5 (+5.7), much closer to the horizon in Serpens. You will need binoculars or a telescope for both targets.
  • The Moon is Full on Wednesday – The Pink Moon.
  • The Sun currently has 14 active regions and the sunspot number is 240.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week.
    (For full details about ISS passes click this link: heavens-above-iss-passes to visit the heavens-above website. If you are not in Marlborough, please ensure that you set your location for the most accurate ISS timings).

 

Week of 15th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:14 BST at the start of the week and at 22:30 BST by the end of the week.
  • Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks reaches perihelion on Sunday. It will be at its brightest, at mag +4.4. Look for the comet in Taurus, close to the western horizon after sunset, which is at around 20:10 BST.
  • Jupiter (-2.0) is sinking ever closer to the western horizon, but is still just visible around sunset. It lies close to comet 12P/Pons-Brooks (+4.4) and under one degree away from Uranus (+5.8) this week.
  • The Moon is First Quarter on Monday.
  • The Sun currently has 7 active regions and the sunspot number is 115.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week.
    (For full details about ISS passes click this link: heavens-above-iss-passes to visit the heavens-above website. If you are not in Marlborough, please ensure that you set your location for the most accurate ISS timings).

 

Week of 8th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 21:56 BST at the start of the week and at 22:11 BST by the end of the week.
  • The ‘Great American Eclipse’ is on Monday, with totality running from 16:43 BST in Mexico, crossing the USA and ending at 21:52 BST in south-eastern Canada. The eclipse won’t be visible from Marlborough, but a partial eclipse (max 39%) will be visible from Wales and Scotland.
  • Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is at mag +4.7. Find the comet in Aries, about 18° above the western horizon after sunset, which is at around 20:00 BST this week.
  • Enjoy galaxy hunting with a telescope in the darkness of New Moon this week. Targets in the ‘Bowl of Virgo’ include: elliptical galaxy M87, or Virgo A, (+8.7), spiral galaxy M98 (+9.9), and Markarian’s Chain, an interesting alignment of 9 and more galaxies, including M86 (+8.8) and M84 (+9.0).
  • The Moon is New on Monday.
  • The Sun currently has 5 active regions and the sunspot number is 71.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week.
    (For full details about ISS passes click this link: heavens-above-iss-passes to visit the heavens-above website. If you are not in Marlborough, please ensure that you set your location for the most accurate ISS timings).

 

Week of 1st April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 21:40 BST at the start of the week and at 21:54 BST by the end of the week.
  • Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is brightening, now at mag +5.1. Look for the comet in Aries, about 20° above the western horizon after sunset, which is at around 19:45 BST this week.
  • With the Waning Moon, this is a great time to hunt down faint galaxies in Ursa Major. Search for M81, Bode’s Galaxy (+6.8), and M82, the Cigar Galaxy (+8.0), close together about 10° to the northwest of Dubhe, the upper ‘pointer star’, and M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy (+7.9), about 3° below Alkaid, the star at the end of the Plough’s handle. A telescope will be needed to find these ‘faint fuzzies’.
  • The Moon is Last Quarter on Tuesday.
  • The Sun currently has 4 active regions and the sunspot number is 50.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week.
    (For full details about ISS passes click this link: heavens-above-iss-passes to visit the heavens-above website. If you are not in Marlborough, please ensure that you set your location for the most accurate ISS timings).

 

 

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