bY Clive Jackson
Welcome to the April night sky. This is the month when the nights get a little warmer and hopefully the skies a little clearer. The Panstarrs comet of March was slightly brighter than expected but not really spectacular. The next one is comet ISON and it will be seen from November onwards, and by mid-December it should be a splendid sight in the cold winter skies of the northern hemisphere. Of course, as with all comets, we will have to wait and see just how good it gets.
For this month, we have the gas giant planet Jupiter still in the constellation of Taurus but getting low in the west now as night falls. The crescent moon will be seen near to this planet on the 14th.
At the same time as Jupiter is setting, the ringed planet Saturn is rising in the east in the constellation of Virgo, and Saturn will be at its biggest and brightest on the night of the 28th.
The nearly full moon will be close to this planet on the 25th. Through a small telescope, the rings of Saturn are well visible using a magnification of 20x or 30x.
Also the largest moon of Saturn, called Titan, is easily seen just by using good binoculars. This moon is larger than the planet Mercury and is at the moment being extensively studied by the Cassini probe that was launched in 1997 and is programmed to last until 2017.
April 22 is the night of the Lyrid meteor shower, but the bright moon will be in the sky on that night so only the brightest shooting stars will be seen. This shower is made up of dust left over from the tail of comet Thatcher discovered in 1861.
The night of the 14th might be interesting as it’s known as the April fireballs and it is in fact a meteor shower of unknown origin, but it has been seen in past years to produce some exceptionally brilliant meteors and on this night the moon sets early leaving the sky dark.
The moon is at last quarter on the 3rd, new on the 10th, first quarter on the 18th and full on April 25.
Download the Algarve Skies Chart by clicking on the link below to download a PDF of the chart.
http://www.the-resident.com/portugalresident/pdf/ALGARVE_RESIDENT_ALGARVE_SKIES_APRIL_2013.pdf
||features@algarveresident.com
Clive Jackson is the Director of the Camera Obscura (next to the Castle in Tavira), specialising in education and public outreach.
281 322 527 | www.cdepa.pt
