Date Night Under The Stars
We’re always looking for new ways to connect with our significant other without spending a lot of money or making a fuss. The nighttime sky comes alive during the month of April—make plans now to share it with someone special.
Venus In The Night Sky
In early April, the planet Venus is just about at the peak of its visibility. If you know your stars, it will appear near the Pleiades star cluster. Venus will appear as a thick crescent and will remain in the sky unusually late into the night, setting around midnight. By late April, Venus will reach its max brightness, and you’ll be able to see its fall from the evening sky throughout the month.
The Supermoon
In April you can witness the “largest” full moon of the year. On April 7 the moon will arrive at its closest point in its orbit to Earth, called its perigee. (For trivia’s sake, the point farthest from Earth is called its apogee.) When the perigee coincides with a full moon, you get the supermoon effect, and the moon seems to appear larger than normal, even though the moon is still a distance of 221, 772 miles from Earth.
The Lyrids
The Lyrid meteor shower lasts from about April 16 to 25. You should be able to see approximately 10 to 15 meteors per hour around the shower’s peak, but the Lyrids are known for uncommon surges that can sometimes bring up to 100 meteors per hour. The meteor shower is near the star Vega in the constellation Lyra, which rises in the northeast at about 10pm. It’s always easier to see “shooting stars” when you’re away from city lights, so this might be an opportunity to pack up the car and head out of town to get the best view. Your best bet for viewing is the dark hours before dawn on April 22. The new moon is on April 23 this month, so the sky should be nice and dark for better viewing.
Sources: space.com, earthsky.org
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