News on what is visable in this months sky as posted by Adrian Zielonka's in his monthly sky notes.
Thank you Adrian and thank you CADAS.
Hi All
Here is the astronomy news for April.
From Adrian
Astronomy
News
Night Sky 2019 - April
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Sunrise |
Sunset |
Mercury Rises |
Venus Rises |
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1st – 6:48am 10th – 6:28am 20th – 6:07am 30th – 5:47am
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1st – 7:43pm 10th – 7:58pm 20th – 8:14pm 30th – 8:31pm
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1st – 6:12am 5th – 6:05am 10th – 5:57am 15th – 5:49am 20th – 5:41am
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1st – 5:58am 5th – 5:52am 10th – 5:44am 15th – 5:36am 20th – 5:27am 25th – 5:18am 30th – 5:09am |
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Moon Rise |
Moon Set |
Moon Rise |
Moon Set |
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1st – 5:48am 2nd – 6:12am (ESE) 3rd – 6:34am 4th – 6:53am 5th – 7:13am (E) 6th – 7:32am 7th – 7:54am 8th – 8:18am (ENE) 9th – 8:48am 10th – 9:24am 11th – 10:10am 12th – 11:07am 13th – 12:14pm 14th – 1:19pm 15th – 2:49pm (ENE) 16th – 4:12pm |
1st – 3:30pm (WSW) 2nd – 4:35pm 3rd – 5:41pm 4th – 6:48pm (W) 5th – 7:55pm 6th – 9:04pm 7th – 10:14pm (WNW) 8th – 11:25pm 10th – 12:36am 11th – 1:43am 12th – 2:44am 13th – 3:37am 14th – 4:20am 15th – 4:55am (WNW) 16th – 5:25am 17th – 5:51am |
17th – 5:34pm 18th – 6:56pm (E) 19th – 8:16pm 20th – 9:35pm (ESE) 21st – 10:51pm 23rd – 12:02am 24th – 1:05am 25th – 2:00am 26th – 2:45am 27th – 3:22am 28th – 3:52am 29th – 4:17am (ESE) 30th - 4:39am
New Moon – 5th First Quarter – 12th |
18th – 6:15am (W) 19th – 6:38am 20th – 7:03am 21st – 7:30am (WSW) 22nd – 8:02am 23rd – 8:39am 24th – 9:24am 25th – 10:15am 26th – 11:12am 27th – 12:13pm 28th – 1:17pm 29th – 2:22pm (WSW) 30th – 3:27pm
Full Moon – 19th Last Quarter – 26th |
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A useful site: |
A S Zielonka |
All times are set from Somerton |
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There is a planned launch (no earlier than April) from Cape Canaveral, Florida. An uncrewed SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40. It will deliver supplies and equipment to the ISS.
There is a planned launch this month from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA and industry partners are targeting the return of human spaceflight from Florida’s Space Coast. These flight tests will prove the space systems meet NASA’s requirements for certification to carry astronauts to and from the ISS. For this uncrewed flight test, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41.
From the 29th March - 2nd April at 8:00pm Venus passes to the lower left, and to within 3 degrees of the visible star cluster Pleiades.
From the 31st March - 4th April there is a very close conjunction between Mercury and Neptune. By 6:30am they are are a couple of degrees above the horizon and lost in the mornings glow from the Sun. On the 2nd & 3rd they are ½ a degree apart. Neptune is also very in close conjunction with the star Phi Aquarii (4.2 mag) in Aquarius.
On the 1st at 6:10am Venus is in the ESE with the crescent Moon 11 degrees to the right of it. Both only 2 degrees above the horizon.
At 6:20am on the 2nd Venus is in the ESE and 3½ degrees above the horizon with the thin crescent Moon 3½ degrees to the lower right just above the horizon.
Venus will be 2½ degrees above the ESE horizon at 6:10am on the 5th. Mercury is 7 degrees to the left of Venus and just 1 degree above the horizon (100 degrees azimuth) with Neptune just 1½ degrees to the right of Mercury.
The Kappa Serpentids meteor shower reaches its peak through the night of the 5th at around 3:00am.
On the 6th at 8:45pm in the west (279 degrees azimuth) and just 2 degrees above the horizon you may see a very thin crescent Moon. Uranus is 5½ degrees to the upper right of it and just 3½ degrees above the horizon.
At 8:30pm on the 7th the thin crescent Moon is due west with the Pleiades star cluster 18½ degrees directly above it.
On the 8th at 8:30pm Mars will be 9 degrees directly above the crescent Moon. The star Lambda Tauri (3.4 mag) in Taurus is just 4 degrees to the left of the Moon.
From the 8th - 12th at 10:00pm in the south east the asteroid Pallas passes close by to the star Muphrid (2.6 mag) in Bootes. They are closest on the 10th.
(For further information please see the 'Asteroids' section in the website above)
At 8:30pm on the 9th the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus is just 3 degrees below the crescent Moon. Mars is 7 degrees to the right of the Moon.
Mercury reaches aphelion on the 10th
(Its furthest point from the Sun in its orbit).
There is a very close conjunction between Venus and Neptune at 6:00am on the 10th. There position are 2½ degrees above the eastern horizon (103 degrees Azimuth).
On the evening of the 10th around 8:45pm the star Zeta Tauri (2.9 mag) in Taurus is just 1 degree to the right of the Moon.
Mercury is at maximum western elongation on the 11th.
At 8:45pm on the 11th the star Nu Geminorum (4.1 mag) in Gemini is just 2½ degrees to the lower right of the Moon.
On the 12th around 9:30pm the star Kappa Tauri (4.2 mag) in Taurus is a ¼ of a degree above Mars.
On the 12th at 10:00pm the star Kappa Geminorum (3.5 mag) in Gemini is just 3½ degrees to the upper right of the Moon.
At 10:00pm on the 13th the Moon passes in front of some of the fainter stars of the star cluster M44 in Cancer.
On the 14th at 10:00pm the bright star Regulus in Leo is 8 degrees to the lower left of the Moon.
At 10:00pm on the 15th Regulus in Leo is 7½ degrees to the right of the Moon.
On the 16th at 10:00pm the bright star Denebola (2.1 mag) in Leo is 8 degrees to the upper left of the Moon.
There is a scheduled launch on the 17th* at 11:56am* from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman's eleventh contracted commercial resupply services mission, launching aboard an Antares rocket will deliver several tons of cargo including crew supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station (ISS).
At midnight on the 17th the star Porrima (2.7 mag) in Virgo is just 3 degrees to the lower left of the Moon.
Venus reaches aphelion on the 18th
(Its furthest point from the Sun in its orbit).
On the 18th at midnight the star Zeta Virginus (3.3 mag) in Virgo is 4¼ degrees to the upper left of the Moon.
At midnight on the 20th the star Zubeneschamali (2.6 mag) in Libra is 5 degrees to the upper left of the Moon.
On the 21st at midnight the star Nu Scorpii (4 mag) in Scorpius is just 1¼ degrees below right of the Moon.
The Lyrids meteor shower reaches its peak through the night of the 22nd at around 4:00am.
Uranus is at superior conjunction (with the Sun) on the 23rd.
At 5:00am on the 23rd Jupiter is 4 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. The star Xi Ophiuchi (4.3 mag) in Ophiuchus is just 1 degree upper left of the Moon.
The Pi Puppids Meteor shower reaches its peak through the night of the 23rd at around 1:00am.
On the 24th at 5:00am Jupiter is 8 degrees to the right of the Moon. The star Mu Sagittarii (3.8 mag) in Saggitarius is 1¾ degrees above the Moon.
An occultation of Saturn by the Moon is on the 25th. It will be visible from Eastern Australia, New Zealand and from Mexico down to mid-South America.
An occultation of Pluto also occurs on the 25th. This will be visible mainly from Australia and the Indonesian islands.
At 5:00am on the 25th Saturn is 5¼ degrees to the left of the Moon. The star Omicron Sagittarii (3.7 mag) is just 1¼ degrees above the Moon.
On the 26th at 5:00am Saturn is 7 degrees to the upper right of the Moon.
At 5:00am on the 28th the star Nashira (3.6 mag) in Capricornus is 1 degree to the upper left of the Moon.
On the 30th at 5:15am low in the south east the crescent Moon is 4 degrees above the horizon. Neptune is 5 degrees above left of the Moon and 1 degree left of the star Phi Aquarii (4.2 mag) in Aquarius.
* = Dates and times are subject to change.
News: On the 14th March it was announced that NASA is going back to the Moon. The agency has made their goal of a return moon mission, building a new rocket to carry astronauts and planning a space station in orbit around the Moon for the mid 2020s. But during a senate meeting on the 13th, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a surprising announcement: while humans might be returning to the Moon, it won't be NASA that gets them there.
NASA's InSight Lander has only been on the surface of Mars for a few months, but it seems to already be running into problems. According to an announcement from NASA on the 6th, the lander's ground probe, which was designed to tunnel several feet into the ground, has hit some sort of obstacle and got stuck after reaching just one foot down.
Facts: Minor planet Sedna discovered in 2003 is the most remote object to be found in our Solar System (other than comets). It's at a distance of about 86 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun, and that's three times as far as Neptune. It's orbital period is approximately 11,408 years.