By Pat Beers Block
Welcome Star Gazers to this month’s highlights of celestial events visible in Fluvanna County!
Fun events to view in April
We know that April showers bring Mayflowers; but what does the Mayflower bring? The Pilgrims, of course! Just think back to the navigational tools that were available to our Pilgrim travelers more than 200 years ago. There were no GPS or GIF mappings, or skygazing phone apps upon which to rely during their seafaring travel. Instead, our travelers relied upon the stars and other consistent navigation features to traverse over 3000 miles from Europe to the Americas. Today, we are very much removed from relying on celestial constellations, and temporal events for navigating our travels. This month reminds us of the importance of staying in touch with things beyond Earth; with knowledge about the movements of planets and stars, we, too, could again navigate the world by looking up to the sky!
This month, there will be many conjunctions (remote objects visually appear close to one another) and planetary and star occultations (one object briefly overshadows another celestial object) to observe. Many of the unique and spectacular events will occur mid-to-late April. For instance, Mercury will be positioned high in the sky and visible in mid-April. The full moon/micro-moon will be visible mid-month. A four (4) planetary alignment will occur mid-month while a three (3) planetary line-up will appear late in the month. The Lyrids meteor shower promises showy meteor flares that will to visible in the morning sky in late April.
Hopefully some of these events capture your interest and motivate you to set up your sky gazing equipment and spend time observing the night and early morning dark sky this month. So let’s get ready to engage in observing these events by setting up your star gazing equipment, charging your cell phones and linking to Sky Guide, Sky View Lite, or any other star gazing applications that you find useful, and settling into your favorite viewing spot to witness the magic of the night and early morning skies!
Weeks 1 -2 (April 1- 12)
April 1 is a good evening to view the moon in conjunction with the Pleiades star cluster (aka the 7 Sisters, and Messier 45) that is found within the Taurus constellation. On the morning of April 5, the moon will be in conjunction with Mars, Caster, and Pollux within the constellation Gemini.
The first quarter phase of the moon will occur on April 5. Recall, when the moon enters this phase, the Earth experiences neap tides. The moon will appear to be a “half-moon” with the right side of the moon illuminated with light.
On April 6, the moon will be in conjunction with the Beehive star cluster (aka Messier 44) located within the constellation Cancer. On April 8, the moon will be in conjunction with the star Regulus located within the constellation Leo.
There will be a conjunction of the planets Venus, Mercury, and Saturn from April 6-14; the best date for viewing this three (3) planet alignment is the morning of April 10 when Mercury and Saturn are visually closest to one another.
The full moon appears on April 12 and bears the colloquial name of the Pink Moon, so named by Native Americans because of the emergence of wild pink phlox flowers scattered throughout the landscape as ground flowers spring back to life. This moon is a “Micromoon” because it will appear 5% smaller and 11% less bright than regular full moons.
Additionally on April 12, the moon will be conjunction with the star Spica, the brightest star within the constellation Virgo.
Week 3 (April 13-19)
On April 16, the moon is in conjunction with the star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.
On the morning of April 17, four (4) planets will align. The planets in this line-up include Mercury, Venus, Neptune, and Saturn. All but Neptune can be seen without the use of binoculars or a telescope; a telescope will probably be needed to view Neptune.
Week 4 (April 20-26)
The moon moves into its last quarter phase on April 20. The moon will be illuminated on the left half of its surface.
This month’s “celestial show” is the Lyrids meteor shower that lasts from April 14th through April 30. The best times to view this shower include the evening of April 21 through the morning of April 22. Typically this shower produces 18 meteors an hour. It can be viewed in the northwestern sky.
On the early morning of April 24, the moon and the planets Venus, Mercury, and Saturn will again be in conjunction with one another, visible in the east/southeast sky.
Week 5 (April 27-30)
The last events of April include the new moon phase on April 27 at which time the moon will no longer be visible except as a ghost-like sphere in the sky; and on April 28 when the planet Saturn will be in conjunction with the planet Venus within the constellation Pisces.
In Summary…
So ends the celestial highlights of April. We have much to be excited about this month. We can enjoy planetary line-ups throughout the month, the “Pink” full moon, and the Lyrids meteor shower.
Beyond these noted events, it is worth exploring celestial stories and events that are posted on NASA’s homepage, and visiting websites that provide information about space rocket and satellite launches, the travels of the ISS, and aurora borealis flare-ups that might be visible in Fluvanna county.
With the perpetual motion of planets and stars, the daily changing sky promises to entertain you for a lifetime! Until next month, keep your eyes facing the morning and evening sky to see the wonders of our universe as we Earthlings travel through it!
[information has been extracted from Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events 2025 – Sea and Sky (seasky.org); https://eclispe.gsfc.nasa.gov; https://highpointscientific.com/astronomy-hub; https://amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers; https://starwalk.space; https://spacetourismguide.com; and Wikipedia]
