Starry Night astronomical event calendar for April
By Contributor
For anyone who has ever been interested in the sky, then Taghum Starry Night program is the place to be.
During the month of April, there is plenty to see in the night sky at Taghum Community Hall — 5915 Taghum Hall Road by the old Taghum Bridge.
Astronomical Events for April 2015
Saturday April 4th — If you are up early this morning you may be able to see the lunar eclipse. The Moon starts to move into Earth’s shadow, (the umbral phase of the eclipse) at 3:15am and the Moon will be totally eclipsed from 4:48am to 5:02am. The umbral phase of the eclipse ends at 6:44am. Totality will be short for this eclipse, (only 4 minutes) because the Moon will be passing through the top of the umbral shadow. For this reason, the Moon may not take on a deep red color but most likely will be bright yellow at the top and may look orange or copper colour at the bottom. If you miss this eclipse of the Moon, there will be another in the evening of September 27th.
By coincidence, this month’s full Moon is known as the “Pink Moon”.
Wednesday April 8th — Look for a gibbous Moon 1 degree above Saturn in the early Morning sky.
Wednesday April 8th — This evening Jupiter will be 5 degrees to the left of the Beehive star cluster, (M44) in Cancer.
Friday April 10th to 12th — Bright Venus will be 3 degrees below the Pleiades star cluster in the western evening sky.
Saturday April 19th — The crescent Moon will be to the left of orange Mars and Mercury, low in the western sky, shortly after sunset.
Tuesday April 21st — The crescent Moon will be 7 degrees below Venus in the western evening sky.
Wednesday April 22nd to 23rd —The Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight. The best viewing will be after midnight.
Saturday April 25th —– The first quarter Moon will be 7 degrees below Jupiter.
Anyone with questions about any of the following astronomical events, or anything astronomical, please contact me, Wayne the star guy, directly at sumfun@telus.net or call 354-1586.
Please do not just push “reply” as your email will go back to Deborah Wilson at the Taghum Hall Society and she will have to forward it to me.
