APRIL 2025 (Northern Hemisphere)

1 – Moon near the Pleiades at 22h UT (evening sky).

2 – Moon near Jupiter at 23h UT (evening sky). Mag. –2.1.

5 – First Quarter Moon at 2:16 UT.

5 – Moon near Mars at 21h UT (evening sky). Mag. 0.5.

8 – Moon near Regulus at 15h UT (evening sky).

10 – Mercury 2.00° NNE of Saturn at 14h UT (25° from Sun, morning sky). Mags 1.1 and 1.2.

13 – Moon near Spica at 0h UT (evening sky). Occultation visible from most of South America.

13 – Full Moon at 0:23 UT.

13 – Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 23h UT (distance 406,295km; angular size 29.4′).

16 – Moon near Antares at 21h UT (morning sky). Occultation visible from southern Africa.

16 – Mercury 0.68° SE of Neptune at 23h UT (27° from Sun, morning sky). Mags 0.7 and 7.9.

21 – Last Quarter Moon at 1:36 UT.

21 – Mercury at westernmost elongation at 19h UT (27° from Sun, morning sky). Mag. 0.4.

22 – Lyrid meteor shower peaks at 13h UT (timingand activity is variable). Active April 17-26. Radiant is between Hercules and Lyra. Expect 10 to 20 bright, fast meteors per hour at peak.

24 – Venus at its brightest at 6h UT (37.5° from Sun, morning sky). Mag. –4.54.

25 – Moon, Venus and Saturn within circle 4.1° diameter at 6h UT (37° from Sun, morning sky). Mags. –4.5 and 1.2.

25 – Moon near Mercury at 22h UT (morning sky). Mag. 0.3.

27 – Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 16:13 UT (distance 357,119km; angular size 33.5′).

27 – Venus shows greatest illuminated extent (309 square arcseconds) at 17h UT. Mag. –4.5.

27 – New Moon at 19:32 UT. Start of lunation 1266.

29 – Moon near the Pleiades at 8h UT (evening sky).

30 – Moon near Jupiter at 17h UT (evening sky). Mag. –2.0.

More sky events and links at http://Skymaps.com/skycalendar/

All times in Universal Time (UT). (USA Eastern Standard Time = UT – 5 hours.)

More sky events and links at http://Skymaps.com/skycalendar/

Visit my YouTube Page for captures of many of the Night Sky events for each month.

MOON PHASES

New Moon: 27th
First Quarter: 5th
Full Moon: 13th
Last Quarter: 21st

EASILY SEEN BY THE NAKED EYE

Capella Aur The 6th brightest star. Appears yellowish in color. Spectroscopic binary. Dist=42 ly.

Arcturus Boo Orange, giant K star. Name means “bear watcher”. Dist=36.7 ly.

Sirius CMa The brightest star in the sky. Also known as the “Dog Star”. Dist=8.6 ly.

Procyon CMi Greek name meaning “before the dog” – rises before Sirius (northern latitudes). Dist=11.4 ly.

Castor Gem Multiple star system with 6 components. 3 stars visible in telescope. Dist=52 ly.

Pollux Gem With Castor, the twin sons of Leda in classical mythology. Dist=34 ly.

Regulus Leo Brightest star in Leo. A blue-white star with at least 1 companion. Dist=77 ly.

Vega Lyr The 5th brightest star in the sky. A blue-white star. Dist=25.0 ly.

Betelgeuse Ori One of the largest red supergiant stars known. Diameter=300 times that of Sun. Dist=430 ly.

Algol Per Famous eclipsing binary star. Magnitude varies between 2.1 & 3.4 over 2.867 days.

Aldebaran Tau Brightest star in Taurus. It is not associated with the Hyades star cluster. Dist=66.7 ly.

Polaris UMi The North Pole Star. A telescope reveals an unrelated mag 8 companion star. Dist = 433 ly.

Spica Vir Latin name means “ear of wheat” and shown held in Virgo’s left hand. Dist=250 ly.

SEEN BY TELESCOPE

γ Andromedae And Attractive double star. Bright orange star with mag 5 blue companion. Sep=9.8″.

ε Boötis Boo Red giant star (mag 2.5) with a blue-green mag 4.9 companion. Sep=2.8″. Difficult to split.

M67 Cnc Contains 500+ stars mag 10 & fainter. One of the oldest clusters. Dist=2,350 ly.

M94 CVn Compact nearly face-on spiral galaxy. Dist=15 million ly.

M51 CVn Whirlpool Galaxy. First recognised to have spiral structure. Dist=25 million ly.

η Cassiopeiae Cas Yellow star mag 3.4 & orange star mag 7.5. Dist=19 ly. Orbit=480 years. Sep=12″.

M64 Com Black-Eye Galaxy. Discovered by J.E. Bode in 1775 – “a small, nebulous star”.

3242 Hya Ghost of Jupiter. Bright blue disk. Mag 11 central star. Dist=2,600 ly.

γ Leonis Leo Superb pair of golden-yellow giant stars. Mags 2.2 & 3.5. Orbit=600 years. Sep=4.4″.

β Monocerotis Mon Triple star. Mags 4.6, 5.0 & 5.4. Requires telescope to view arc-shape. Sep=7.3″.

2264 Mon Christmas Tree Cluster. Associated with the Cone Nebula. Dist=2,450 ly.

σ Orionis Ori Superb multiple star. 2 mag 7 stars one side, mag 9 star on other. Struve 761 triple in field.

k Puppis Pup Telescope easily shows two blue-white stars of almost equal brightness. Sep=9.9″.

M1 Tau Crab Nebula. Remnant from supernova which was visible in 1054. Dist=6,500 ly.

M81 UMa Beautiful spiral galaxy visible with binoculars. Easy to see in a telescope.

M82 UMa Close to M81 but much fainter and smaller.

γ Virginis Vir Superb pair of mag 3.5 yellow-white stars. Orbit=169 years. At their closest in 2005.

M87 Vir Supergiant galaxy with supermassive black hole at its core. Dist=53.5 million ly.