In Astronomy this week:
Friday, April 21
Mars continues to put on a nice show these April evenings. It appears 15° high in the west-northwest an hour after sunset and doesn’t dip below the horizon until after 10 p.m. local daylight time. The magnitude 1.6 Red Planet appears among the background stars of Taurus the Bull, just 4° south of the Pleiades star cluster (M45). Keep an eye on Mars throughout this week as it passes between the Pleiades and its sister cluster, the Hyades. Unfortunately, a telescope won’t show any detail on the planet’s 4"-diameter disk.
Saturday, April 22
The annual Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak before dawn. Conditions this year should be nearly ideal. The waning crescent Moon doesn’t rise until after 4 a.m. local daylight time, and even when it does, it sheds little light into the predawn sky. The shower’s radiant — the point in the constellation Lyra the Harp from which the meteors appear to emanate — climbs nearly overhead just before morning twilight starts to break. Under a clear, dark sky, observers can expect to see 15 to 20 meteors per hour.
Sunday, April 23The waning crescent Moon appears to the right of Venus before dawn. The two approach each other as the morning progresses, and the Moon will pass 5° south of the planet at 2 p.m. EDT.
The Sky This Week for April 21 to April 30 | Astronomy.com
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