Fred Barrett | Apr 03, 2014


Boy oh boy, do we ever have an exceptional night this month! Cancel any other plans you might have for the night of April 14 - 15. There’s a total lunar eclipse during the early hours after midnight and Mars is at its closest approach to Earth all night. Since Mars will be about 8 degrees to the upper right of the Moon early that evening, you can observe Mars as you wait for the eclipse and follow it as the night progresses. Mars will be very bright – as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Be careful not to confuse the bright star Spica about 2 degrees below the Moon for Mars! Remember that a fist at arm’s length is about 10 degrees; your middle 3 fingers measure 5 degrees and your pinky finger is about 1 degree.

Mars is a rarity among planets because surface features can be made out through even a modest telescope. Don’t panic if the brightness of the Moon degrades quality observing of Mars; you have all of April to observe this close passage of the red planet. Mars is in opposition, or exactly opposite a line between the Sun and Earth, on April 8th but due to its orbital tilt as it moves around the Sun and its eccentricity (0.093), it is not closest until the night of the 14th -15th.

The eccentricity of an orbit is a number that describes how close an orbit is to a circle. Zero eccentricity is a perfect circle and as the number approaches 1, the size of the elliptical or oval orbit increases. Greater than 1 indicates that an object no longer circles the body it was attracted to. An example of that would be a comet that circles the Sun once and never returns.

Mars comes close every 26 months and how close it comes varies from cycle to cycle. This time it will be at its closest since 2007. This approach will offer a disk 15 arc seconds across but it will be even closer in 2018 when it will be a tremendous 24.3 arc seconds across!

I know that satellites orbiting Mars offer stunning pictures of its surface but there’s nothing like seeing the red planet for real through a trusty telescope! Mars can be found in the southeast about an hour after sunset and since it is in opposition, it will be in the sky all night.

The eclipse of the Moon begins at 12:53 am when the Moon just enters the penumbra of the Earth’s shadow. The penumbra is the lighter part of the shadow where some light leakage has occurred. It will be difficult to see this slight darkening of the Moon. The umbra on the other hand, is the darkest part of the shadow. At 1:58 am the Moon will enter the umbra and this will be noticeable. The Moon will be completely enclosed by the umbra, the official start of totality, at 3:06 am. Watch for the Moon to turn reddish as the eclipse progresses. This is caused by sunlight filtered through the atmosphere at the Earth’s circumference. This effect could be described as one big circular sunset bathing the Moon in its red glow! Note that the Moon will pass through the lower half of the umbra and thus, the bottom of the Moon will appear a bit brighter than its top. The total eclipse ends at 4:24 am when the Moon once again enters the penumbral portion of the earth’s shadow. Get your cameras out and take some pictures of the Moon as a partial eclipse. A telephoto lens will give you a decent size Moon for your picture. A tripod and an exposure of several seconds will be necessary for a total eclipse picture. Use an ISO of at least 800. All you need for the eclipse are your eyeballs. A pair of binoculars will provide some close up views.

Saturn is 20 degrees high in the southeast about mid-evening during April and very bright. It is a tremendous view in a telescope with its rings tilted at 22 degrees. It rises to about 40 degrees in the south by midnight. It will be about 25 degrees to the left of the total eclipse on that night - another object to view while you wait.

Jupiter is another distraction during eclipse night. About an hour after sunset, it will be up 45 degrees in the southwest sky and very bright. You can make out its storm bands in a good 8 inch telescope. Binoculars will provide a nice view of its larger 4 moons.

Venus rises just before sunrise very low in the east southeast. Although exceptionally bright, it will disappear quickly in the brightening dawn.

April’s full Moon is called the Pink Full Moon named after pink wild ground phlox. It’s also called Sprouting Grass Moon. I can hardly wait… So far the only name I have for it is The High Snow Bank Moon! Last month was the Worm Moon. Haven’t seen any worms yet.

There should be some great Northern Lights this month. I use 10 – 15 second exposures and a 400 ISO setting. This brings out bright colours.


If you have questions or suggestions, Fred Barrett may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc.ca/publications, subscriptions for our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine, Sky News, are also available from RASC..

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