April 2011 Astro Calendar
March 26, 2011MOON PHASES
- April 3 (Sun) 7:32 AM PDT / 14:32 UT – New moon
- April 11 (Mon) 5:05 AM PDT / 12:05 UT – First quarter moon
- April 17 (Sun) 7:43 PM PDT / 2:43 UT (April 18) – Full moon
- April 24 (Sun) 7:46 PM PDT / 2:46 UT (April 25) – Last quarter moon
MOON CONJUNCTIONS
- April 6 and 7 (Wed & Thurs), waxing crescent moon passes Pleiades (6th) and Hyades (7th) in the western sky
- April 16 (Sat), nearly full moon passes Saturn in the eastern sky
- April 29-May 1 (Fri-Sun), waning crescent moon passes four bright planets–Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter–in the eastern sky, 30 minutes before sunrise
PLANET POSITIONS
- Mercury waxing crescent in the morning sky, inferior conjunction with sun April 9, greatest western elongation May 7.
- Venus waxing gibbous in the morning sky, following greatest western elongation on Jan 8.
- Mars rises before dawn, but stays close to the horizon.
- Jupiter rises before dawn, following conjunction with sun on April 6.
- Saturn rises shortly after sunset, following opposition on April 3.
- Uranus rises before dawn, in Pisces.
- Neptune rises before dawn, in Aquarius.
PLANET CONJUNCTIONS
- April 19 (Tues), Mercury and Mars less than 1° apart, 15 minutes before sunrise.
- April 23 (Sat), Uranus 1° above Venus before sunrise.
- April 29-May 1 (Fri-Sun), Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter close to each other and to the waning crescent moon, 30 minutes before sunrise.
METEOR SHOWERS
- April 22 (Fri) Lyrid meteors. Active April 16-25. Predicted to be an unfavorable year.
10 Minute Astronomy 
Do you update this each month?
This is my first month to post an astro calendar, and “always in motion is the future”, but I certainly plan to.
does it cost anything to subscribe?
Nope! You can keep track either by periodically visiting the blog or by adding it to your RSS reader; the RSS link should be at the very bottom of the page on the right. Thanks for your interest.