My first Magazine Sky & Telescope - 04.2019 | Page 43

OBSERVING
April 2019
22 MORNING: The Moon, by the
claws of Scorpius, is some 7° from
reddish Antares.
2 DAWN: Waxing gibbous Venus
rises in the east shortly before the
waning crescent Moon. The two are
less than 5°° apart.
8 EVENING: The waxing crescent
Moon, Aldebaran, Mars, and the
Pleiades form a diamond in Taurus.
9 EVENING: The Moon has
leapfrogged over Aldebaran and now sits
some 5° above the Bull’s brightest star.
10 EVENING: Algol shines at
minimum brightness for roughly two
hours centered at 8:49 p.m. PDT (11:49
p.m. EDT); see page 49.
11 EVENING: Mars approaches 23 NIGHT: The thinning Moon,
Aldebaran and will be less than 7° from
the red giant for the next seven nights.
Compare the two red orbs: The star is
twice as bright as the planet. retrograde Jupiter, and 51 Ophiuchus
form a tight triangle from when they
rise shortly before midnight to sunup.
25 MORNING: The Moon and Saturn
13 EVENING: The waxing gibbous
Moon, in Cancer, is but 2° from the
Beehive Cluster (M44).
14 EVENING: The fattening Moon
visits Leo and is about 5° from the
Lion’s brightest star, Regulus.
22 MORNING AND EVENING: The
Lyrid meteor shower peaks during the
evening of the 22nd. Best viewing is
during the pre-dawn hours that day,
but the waning gibbous Moon, three
days past full, will interfere.
are some 3° apart in Sagittarius for
viewers in North America. For those
in Eastern Australia, New Zealand,
and western South America, the Moon
will occult the ringed planet on the
morning of the 26th.
— DIANA HANNIKAINEN
p Messier 64 is nicknamed the “Black Eye
Galaxy” due to the dark band of absorbing
dust obscuring the nucleus (see page 58 for
a sketch of this galaxy and its surroundings).
M64’s unusual appearance is thought to arise
from the merger of two galaxies long ago.
NASA / HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM / STSCI / AURA / SCIENCE SOURCE
sk yandtele scope.com • A PR I L 2 019
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