The Night Sky in April 2026
We are into Spring proper and the daylight hours are growing longer. Less time for night observing and astrophotography but if you have the equipment, more time for solar….if the weather complies. I can recommend as useful guides In-The-Sky.org and www.theskylive.com
Meteors.
There are two meteor showers this month
The first of the showers is the April Lyrids which starts on the 16th April and peaks over 21-23rd April, luckily the Moon is just a few days into its new phase so the sky will be darker later evening.
This shower is the result of the Earth passing through the remains of Comet C1861 G1 Thatcher. It is called the Lyrids as the meteors appear from the area of a constellation Lyra
The second meteor shower is the Aquarids which is a stronger shower starting on 19th April, continuing on into early May, reaching an expected peak on May 5th.
There are predictions of 50 meteors per hour.
(source: Sky & Telescope)
The Aquarids as their name suggests originate in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Carrier) and are the remains of a trail of debris orbiting the Sun from the famous Halley’s comet. Halley’s comet is not due to return until 2061, so some of our children might see it….this shower will be lower in the sky.
Comets
There is a good chance to observe Comet 10P/Tempel. It will become visible early morning from mid April, it is faint so something like a 6” for visual would be needed, but for those with a smart scope a long exposure should reveal it.. It will become brighter as the months pass.
Tempel 2 is 5 year Jupiter-family comet.
Source www.theskylive.com
The Moon
The Moon will be at full phase on 2nd April with last quarter on the 10th and a new Moon on the 17th.
The Full Moon is known by various names. In the USA it is the Pink Moon because it occurs when pink flowers such as Phlox are flower in early Spring, it is also known as the Hare Moon as hares are getting active around this month. It has also been called the Egg Moon as April is associated with giving off eggs in pre Christian times.
In the Christian calendar it is called the Paschal Moon and is used to mark the timing of Easter. The Paschal Moon is the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox. Paschal also means Passover and Easter occurs a week after Passover.
The Planets
Mercury: Is not observable as it is too close to the horizon.
Venus: Will be shining as a western evening star. On April 23rd at 22:30 BST it will be within 46 arc second of Uranus.
Mars: A morning planet but poorly placed in the sky so hard to see.
Jupiter: Is high in the sky in Gemini shining at -1.9 magnitude and starting the month at 52° altitude.
Saturn: As with Mercury, Mares and Neptune it is poorly placed in the morning sky.
Uranus: As mentioned above there will be a conjunction of Uranus with Venus on 23rd April but due to Venus’ brightness it will be hard to see..but worth a try.
The Constellations.
Leo is still the dominant constellation of the southern aspect of our night sky. And with Coma Berenices and Virgo making a large triangle it means galaxy season. This part of the spring night sky is littered with galaxies. And one area the Markarians Chain has a lovely string of them.
The area between the three constellations has 13 Messier objects alone.
This month also look North. The Plough is high in the sky. Also known as the Big Dipper in North America due to its distinctive shape. In China it was looked upon as a Rice Ladle and was called Bei Dou.
In Chinese astronomy the 7 major stars were called the Governors and used as a form of celestial clock as they rotated around the Pole star.
The whole constellation is of course also known as Ursa Major the Great Bear and is much moreextensive than just the 7 main stars. Ursa Major – Wikipedia
Two useful stars are Dubhe & Merak which form the side of the dipper away from the handle. Follow a line made by these two stars and you can find the Pole Star, Polaris. This in turn is the tail end of another bear, Ursa Minor or the Little Bear.
The second star in from the handle of the Plough is actually a true binary, two stars rotating around a common centre of gravity. These stars are Mizar & Alcor, their separation is about a light year. In truth it is even more complicated. Mizar has been discovered to be a 4 star system and Alcor a two star system.
Mizar Aa and Ab are separated by about 30 million miles and Mizar Ba and Bb 279 million miles, Alcor A is a white dwarf and its partner Alcor B a red dwarf, this pair are separated by between 0.5 & 1.5 Light Years. A Light Year is 6 trillion miles or 9 trillion kilometres, that 6 or 9 with 12 zero’s following it. A pair of binoculars will reveal Alcor & Mizar as a double, and under very good dark skies conditions I have seen them as a naked eye double, sadly an opportunity slipping away as light pollution continues to encroach on our relationship with the night sky. They are 83 Light Years distant. The other smaller stars need serious optics to resolve them.
The two Bears appear to rotate around Polaris though the night and through the seasons.
The constellations that do this are called circumpolar constellations and are more or less permanently visible from our latitude. Others circumpolar constellations like Cassiopeia are are also distinctive with its W shape. More of her in later months when her rescuer from the Kraken, Perseus, makes a better view. These circumpolar constellations are based on much older observations of the night sky from the Sumerians over 5000 years ago. Passed onto the Mesopotamians then the Greeks and Arabs who wrote them down too.
In China they had a different view of the sky. Polaris represented the Emperor and as on Earth everything had to rotate around him. Their early star maps dating back 2000 years (the first actual maps rather than records) showed not only court officials but palace walls either side of Polaris, palanquins, markets and palace buildings with Princes and Ladies in Waiting.
Frank Dutton FRAS
(duttonlf@gmail.com)