Items Featured In TGP NOMINAL Xtra - ASTRONOMY IN APRIL 2021
Ross Hockham's April Sky Guide:
The planet Mars is still up in our night sky and can be seen from Sunset until it sets around Midnight
Although still bright, you will be lucky to see any detail on the planet
We will have to wait a year or so, until the next good views of the God of war
The planets, Jupiter and Saturn have now moved into the Morning sky
Just before the Sun rises, you may be able to spot these low lying planets on a South-Eastern horizon
Be Careful Looking Near The Sun
On the 6th The two gas giants will be joined by a crescent Moon to their right
Saturn will be slightly higher to it's left with Jupiter further to it's right
A lovely morning view to start the day with a hot drink.
If you are up early on the 7th and have a clear South-Eastern horizon
You may notice how the Moon has moved from its position yesterday,
having passed under Saturn headed for Jupiter
On the 19th, have a peek at the Moon tonight and look for the crater Albategnius
and see if you can spot the smiley face looking back at you.
As the morning Sun glimpses the edges of this feature making the shadows look like a smiling face
From the 19th to the 20th take a look at Montes Appenninus
It's a huge mountain range on the Moon that can be seen very well over the next two nights,
as the sun hits one side, casting a shadow over the other
Bringing this cool range out like a 3D picture.
If you get it just right on the night of the 20th
When you peek at the Moon, you may be able to see the Sunlight glint across the two small craters within Clavius Crater
Creating an illusion called The Eyes of Clavius, which resemble two eyes peeking out at you from the shadows
On the 21st, his time it’s the turn of Plato’s hook to cast a shadow into the Plato Crater on the Moon
Creating a kind of hook or I like to think of it as a Praying Mantis’ claw along the inside of the crater
From the 21st to the 23rd, The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks, although active from 14th to the 30th of April
They are at their best at 13:00, on the 22nd, obviously not a great time of day to spot meteors for us UK astronomers
So that’s why its suggested to pop out the night before and after to see if you can see any meteors streak across the skies
They radiate just to the right of the bright blue star Vega in the Constellation Lyra and peak at around 10-15 per hour
Unfortunately there will be some glare from the Moon, which is also up
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But there were some big fireballs last month and considering March is a month of no Meteor showers
It just goes to show that you never know what may happen when you look up
It just goes to show that you never know what may happen when you look up
Back to the Moon on the 22nd, and this to take a peek at what’s known as the Jewelled Handle
Which is found in another smaller mountainous area called Montes Jura
This illusion happens the sun hits the mountains just right
It sticks out of the shadows from the darker Mare giving it tis name.
There is a comet called 2020 R4 ATLAS that’s predicted to maybe come in range for moderate telescope users
Its closest approach will be on the 23rd April
It starts the month in the morning sky close to the Sun but by the night of the 23rd,
it will have transferred into the evening sky
The comet will spend the next few nights flying through the South of the Constellation Hercules on 20th,
just below the star Maasym on Hercules arm
Then moving up through Boötes, passing it by 30th and continuing into the next month
They think it will get to around magnitude 8 or 9, so well worth a hunt.
A little challenge for you on the 25th
As you watch the sunset this evening, you may spot the elusive Mercury with the goddess Venus.
Venus will be easier to spot in the Western sky, as the Sun sets but will be pretty low on the horizon
But just around the 2 o'clock of Venus you should be able to spot Mercury
The Moon on the 30th holds a couple of cool bright craters called Messier and Messier A.
They will seem to glint out of the Mare Fecun’di’tatis
Messier is a relatively young lunar impact crater and has a discernible oblong shape
It is theorized that the Messier Crater was formed by an impact at a very low angle, and that Messier A could have formed following a rebound by the impacting object.
Dan Pye's Object Of The Month:
My name is Dan Pye and I'm one of the Astronomers at the Kielder Observatory and I love NGC- 4526
It's a Lenticular Galaxy which sits about 55 million light-years away from Earth
It has also got a couple of other familiar names such as The Lost Galaxy or my favourite which is the Hairy Eyebrow Galaxy
The reason why I love this, it's quite a small object to see but if you have a large telescope then you should be able to make this out, no problem, because it is quite a bright object
It's actually was more famed with a Supernova explosion in the mid-90s that was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope So there is some beautiful artwork that exists about this Galaxy as well
But the reason why I love it, is because it's perfectly framed in between these two reasonably bright stars
So you have two bright stars right next to each other and then moving diagonally between those two stars,
is this wonderful elliptical Haze, which is the Hairy Eyebrow Galaxy and an incredible thing to see.
Astronomy In April (Free Online Festival):
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