In the Sky This Month

Antares, the leading light of Scorpius, will perch close below the Moon at first light tomorrow. The brilliant planet Jupiter will stand well to their left.

The Lyrid meteor shower is building up this weekend. It should hit its peak in the wee hours of Monday or Tuesday. Unfortunately, though, the gibbous Moon will get in the way. Its glare will overpower all but the brightest meteors.

The Moon is full today. It stands opposite the Sun in our sky, so sunlight illuminates the entire lunar disk. The full Moon of April is known as the Grass Moon, Egg Moon, or Pink Moon.

Spica stands to the right or lower right of the Moon at nightfall. It consists of two big, heavy stars. One is more than 10 times as massive as the Sun, while the other is about seven times the Sun’s mass.

The golden tresses of Queen Berenice adorn the sky on spring evenings — a spray of stars visible through binoculars high in the east at nightfall. If you look deep into the constellation, you will see thousands of galaxies that form the Coma Cluster.

A sprinkling of faint stars stands high in the east as night falls this evening, above brilliant Arcturus, the brightest star in that part of the sky. Those strands of stars are the main feature of Coma Berenices, the queen.

Several time bombs are in view this evening. The list includes most of the bright stars of Orion, which is low in the west, plus Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, in the southeast. All of these stars are destined to explode as supernovae.

The Moon has a bright companion tonight: Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, the lion. It’s below the Moon at nightfall, and even closer to the Moon as they set in the wee hours of the morning.

The technology of the 18th century highlights the southern evening sky. Two faint constellations are named for devices of that time. Pyxis, the compass, is due south at nightfall, just above the horizon. Antlia, the air pump, is to its lower left.

The Moon is at first quarter at 2:06 p.m. CDT today as it aligns at a right angle to the line between Earth and the Sun. The Moon will rise early this afternoon and stand high in the sky at nightfall.