April 2025 – What’s Up!

Week of 28th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:51 BST at the start of the week and at 23:11 BST by the end of the week.
  • The ancient pagan festival of Beltane, a celebration of fertility as the first signs of summer emerge, is on Thursday; this is the mid-point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. These days it is known as May Day!
  • Jupiter (-2.0) is in our western evening sky, setting at around 00:00 BST this week. Venus (-4.5) rises at around 04:20 BST in the east.
  • This week, with minimal moonlight, there is an imaging challenge – go deep with your kit to capture galaxies in the Coma-Virgo cluster located between Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices. Start with M100 (+9.4) a beautiful spiral galaxy at 52 million light years away, then on to M87, Virgo A (+8.6) at 55 Mly away, can you capture the spectacular jet extending thousands of light years from this elliptical galaxy’s core? Finish with the string of galaxies in Markarian’s Chain including M86 (+8.9) and M84 (+9.1). Good luck!
  • The Moon is First Quarter on Sunday.
  • The Sun currently has 12 active regions and the sunspot number is 172.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 21st April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:30 BST at the start of the week and at 22:48 BST by the end of the week.
  • The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday. This shower, caused by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), produces about 18 meteors per hour. The peak is predicted to be at 14:00 BST, so the best time to look for Lyrid meteors will be in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning at around 04:00 BST, or after 22:00 BST once dark in the evening. Follow the daylight peak on the radio meteor detector live feed.
  • Venus (-4.5) is the ‘morning star’, shining brightly above the eastern horizon before sunrise, Jupiter (-2.0) is in our western evening sky, setting at 00:35 BST, and Mars (+0.8), at just 7 arcseconds apparent diameter (half of what it was at opposition) transits at around 19:20 BST.
  • With the Moon out of the way, faint Deep Sky targets will stand out this week. Search for M104, the Sombrero Galaxy (+8.0) in Virgo, and M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy (+8.4) in Canes Venatici, just below The Plough. Two easier targets are globular clusters M53 (+7.6) in Coma Berenices, and M3 (+6.2) in Canes Venatici.
  • The Moon is Last Quarter on Monday and New on Sunday. It is unusual to have two phase points in the same week!
  • The Sun currently has 7 active regions and the sunspot number is 108.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 14th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 22:11 BST at the start of the week and at 22:27 BST by the end of the week.
  • This apparition of Jupiter (-2.0) is drawing to a close as the planet now sets at 00:56 BST and sunset is happening ever later. Enjoy it while it lasts!
  • Galaxies in Leo are this week’s Deep Sky focus with two galaxy triplets to hunt down; the first is called the Leo Triplet and consists of M65 (+9.3), M66 (+8.9) and NGC 3628 (+9.5), the second is a trio of Messier objects with M95 (+9.7), M96 (+9.3) and M105 (+9.3). Both triplets are a telescopic challenge of ‘faint fuzzies’!
  • The Moon is Waning Gibbous all week.
  • The Sun currently has 6 active regions and the sunspot number is 103.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 7th April

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 21:53 BST at the start of the week and at 22:08 BST by the end of the week.
  • Jupiter (-2.1) is in our western evening sky. There are multiple evening GRS transits this week; Monday at 22:40 BST, Tuesday at 18:32 BST, Thursday at 20:11 BST, and Saturday at 21:51 BST.
  • With the Full Moon this week, double stars make good bright targets to find. Start in Gemini with Castor (+2.9) at 6 arcseconds separation, then on to Leo and Algieba (+2.2) at 5 arcseconds separation, finish with a challenge in Virgo with Porrima (+3.5) at 3.5 arcseconds separation, compounded by its low altitude in the south east.
  • The Moon is Full on Sunday – the Pink Moon.
  • The Sun currently has 10 active regions and the sunspot number is 160.
  • There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

 

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