[Energetic music]
[Preston Dyches] What’s Up for April?
Planets at dusk and dawn,
April showers,
and observing a distant city of stars.
First up, in the evening sky, we begin and end the month
with Jupiter and the crescent Moon shining brightly
together in the western sky as sunset fades.
On both April 1st and 30th, you can find the charming pair
about half an hour after sunset, setting about 3 hours later.
Mars is high overhead in the south on April evenings.
At the start of the month,
it's directly in between bright stars Procyon and Pollux,
but it moves noticeably during the month.
You'll find the first-quarter moon
right next to Mars on April 4th and 5th.
Moving to the morning sky, Venus has now made the switch
from an evening object to a morning one.
You may start to notice it rising low in the east
before dawn,
looking a little higher each morning through the month.
Around April 24th and 25th, you'll find Venus, Saturn,
and the crescent moon
gathered low in the east as dawn warms up the morning sky.
Those with a clear view to the horizon
might also pick out Mercury looking bright,
but very low in the sky.
April brings shooting stars as Earth passes through one
of the streams of comet dust
that create our annual meteor showers.
The Lyrids are a modest meteor shower that peaks
overnight on April 21st and into the morning of the 22nd.
You can expect up to 15 meteors per hour
near the peak under dark skies.
The Lyrids are best observed
from the Northern Hemisphere, but can be seen
from south of the equator as well.
View them after about 10:30pm
local time until dawn, with the best viewing around 5 a.m.
The waning crescent moon will rise around 3:30am,
but at only 27% full,
it shouldn't interfere too much with your meteor watching.
For the best experience, face roughly toward the east,
lie down in a safe, dark place
away from bright lights, and look straight overhead.
Meteors can appear anywhere in the sky,
and some Lyrids can leave bright trails
that last for a few seconds after they've passed.
NASA studies meteors from the ground, in the air,
and from orbit
to forecast meteor activity and protect spacecraft,
and to understand the composition of comets
and asteroids throughout our solar system.
April offers a chance to observe
a truly distant wonder –
a globular cluster known as “M3.”
It’s a vast collection of stars
that lies 34,000 light-years from Earth
in our galaxy's outer reaches.
Astronomer Charles Messier discovered this object
in 1764, while searching for new comets.
Realizing it wasn’t one, he added it to his list
of interesting objects that were not comets,
which today we know as Messier’s catalog.
Through binoculars, Messier 3, or M3,
appears as a small, fuzzy, star-like patch of light.
With a small telescope,
you'll see a more defined glow with a slightly grainy texture.
And with telescopes 8 inches or larger,
the cluster begins to resolve
into hundreds of individual stars.
Now, globular clusters contain some of the oldest stars
in the universe, often over 10 billion years old.
Unlike open clusters like the Pleiades,
which sit within the Milky Way's spiral arms,
globular clusters are found in the galaxy's halo,
orbiting far above and below the Milky Way's disk.
Our galaxy has around 150 confirmed globular clusters.
M3 itself is probably 11 to 13 billion years old
and contains around half a million stars.
And it's relatively easy to spot in April
under dark skies with binoculars or a small telescope.
Finding M3 starts with the Big Dipper.
Facing east, use the Dipper’s handle to “arc to Arcturus,”
the fourth-brightest star in the night sky.
From there, look higher in the sky
to find the star Cor Caroli
located here to the west of the Dipper’s handle.
It’s about as bright as this star in the Dipper’s cup.
M3 is located roughly a third of the way from Arcturus
to Cor Caroli.
With binoculars or a finder scope,
sweep within this area until you spot a faint, round glow.
M3 is an excellent target
for beginners and seasoned observers alike.
Whether using binoculars or a telescope, you'll be rewarded
with a view of one of the oldest objects in our galaxy.
Here are the phases of the Moon for April.
Stay up to date on all of NASA's missions
exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.
I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and that's What's Up for this month.