What’s Up in the Night Sky? April 2022

Fred Barrett | Apr 06, 2022

Great news! The Webb Space Telescope is open for business. After an incredibly complicated journey and a complex mechanical opening from its compact storage configuration in the Ariane rocket nose cone, it’s now taking its first pictures. We can look forward to many fundamental new discoveries about the origins of the universe.

There are a few special events to be on the lookout for this month. The Lyrid meteor shower runs from April 14 to the April 30. It peaks on the night of the 22nd. Its radiant rises in late evening above and to the right of the bright star Vega at the top of the constellation Lyra. On the night of the peak, the radiant will be about 30 degrees above the horizon after midnight and will afford a few hours of meteor observing before the Moon rises in early morning. Meteor watching is always better in the hours before sunrise, but don’t forget that Lyrid meteors can be seen tracking across the sky every night during the peak period.

Look to the eastern horizon an hour before dawn early in the month. Venus, Mars and Saturn will be prominent and constantly shifting their appearance and position with every new morning. It culminates on the 24th when Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Saturn are in a line above the horizon. A crescent Moon joins them soon after. Also, use your binoculars to look for Neptune. It’s only half a degree away from Venus.

Mercury should be easy to spot in the west soon after sunset by the 9th. On the 16th, it’s about 5 degrees above the horizon and lingers for more than an hour before it sets.

To finish the month, on the 30th Venus and Jupiter make a spectacular show. They are both brilliant and less than half a degree away from each other. Look through your binoculars for 3 of Jupiter’s prominent Galilean moons – Io, Ganymede and Callisto. Europa is shy and is hiding behind Jupiter.

The last observing opportunity is a comet. You will need at least your binoculars or a low power telescope. After the 23rd or 24th, the comet C/2021 03 PanSTARRS appears above the western horizon shortly after sunset and below and to the right of the Pleiades star cluster. It climbs higher in the sky every night and moves closer to the Pleiades. Guessing a comet’s brightness is always difficult but this one is forecast to be quite prominent. Give it a go! Find Orion, and then look up to the right for the red star Aldebaran in the star cluster called the Hyades. Next go a little further to the Pleiades. Search below for the comet.

Monthly Highlights: April 4: Mars passes just below Saturn in the early evening; April 7: The Moon is at Apogee – 402,090 Kms; April 9: First quarter Moon; April 10: Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, was launched on this date 65 years ago; April 16: This full Moon is called the Birds Lay Eggs Full Moon. Also is known as the Full Sugar Maker Moon and the Full Frog Moon. Have fun; make your own name up but it has to refer to something that happens in nature at this time of year. Apollo 16 launched for the Moon fifty years ago on this date; April 19: The Moon is at Perigee – 363,024 Kms; April 22: Lyrid meteor shower peaks; April 23: Last quarter Moon; April 24: Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Saturn are in a line an hour before sunrise; April 26: The moon passes 4 degrees south of Venus at 10 pm EDT and 4 degrees south of Neptune at 11 pm; April 27: The Moon passes 4 degrees south of Jupiter at 4 am EDT; April 30: New Moon. Venus is half a degree above right of Jupiter in morning twilight.

Have a look at these links for information and upcoming events at the North Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve:

www.northfrontenac.com/en/open-for-business/dark-sky-preserve.aspx#

www.visitfrontenac.ca/en/explore-and-do/dark-sky-preserve.aspx

Useful books, star charts and related items for beginners and through to advanced amateurs can be ordered from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at www.rasc.ca/publications. A subscription to our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine “SkyNews” can be arranged at the RASC website as well.

Let me know what you’re finding in the sky, especially anything unusual. I enjoy the emails and the feedback. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can contact me through this paper or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Clear Skies! Fred