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.
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.