Some highlights for the night sky in April 2006

Saturday 1 April 2006

• After sunset look for crescent Moon near Pleiades
• Also look for Aldeberan, Hyades and Mars

Tuesday 4 April 2006

• After sunset look for Moon (near 1st quarter) upper left of Mars
• Mercury, Venus and Jupiter span 120 degrees in early morning sky

Thursday 6 April 2006

• After sunset, look for Moon near Saturn
• Saturn, Procyon and Mars make big triangle in sky

Saturday 8 April 2006

• After sunset look for gibbous Moon near Regulus
• Look for Saturn near Beehive cluster in Cancer

Tuesday 11 April 2006

• After sunset look for Moon in Virgo near Gamma Virgo
• Before sunrise look for Jupiter near Alpha Libra

Thursday 13 April 2006

• Full Moon
• Look for Spica near Moon in west before sunrise

Sunday 16 April 2006

• Near midnight look for Moon near Antares low on SE horizon
• Look for Jupiter near Alpha Libra

Tuesday 18 April 2006

• Before sunrise look for Moon above tail of Scorpius
• Look for Jupiter in Libra

Thursday 20 April 2006

• Look for Moon before sunrise approaching Last Quarter
• Look for Jupiter in Libra

Saturday 22 April 2006

• Look for Lyrid meteors before sunrise
• Look for Jupiter in Libra

Monday 24 April 2006

• Before sunrise look for jupiter within 1 degree of Alpha Libra
• Look for Venus near crescent Moon before sunrise

Thursday 27 April 2006

• New Moon at 3:44PM Easter Daylight Savings Time
• After sunset Hyades and Pleiades low on WNW horizon

Saturday 29 April 2006

• After sunset look for crescent Moon near Pleiades and Hyades

Good skywatching resources

• The Messier Objects list
• Abrams Planetarium Skywatcher's Diary (source of the daily events)
• SkyMap software (used to make the maps)
• The Nearest Stars
• The Brightest Stars
• Skymaps dot com (free monthly star maps)
• Planetarium Software
• About the GMU observatory

John Avellone's provided web sites

• FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial Web Cam at TJHSST Planetarium
• EarthDial Project Beta test webpage