The Sky Tonight: April 2025

The casual observer

April brings america into nan play of Djeran, characterised by cool evenings giving measurement to cooler mornings, if we’re lucky. 

Some of nan brighter sections of nan Milky Way commencement to go much salient successful nan southeast this month. You tin commencement astatine nan Southern Cross and travel nan pointers down to nan sky to trace nan outline of nan brighter parts of our galaxy. 

Image: The Milky Way and emu are getting higher successful nan evening entity arsenic nan twelvemonth progresses. Credit: Stellarium 

The Lyrids meteor ablution runs for nan 2nd half of nan month, and peaks connected Apr 22. These meteors are visible debased connected nan bluish horizon, not acold from nan agleam prima Vega. This prima is portion of nan constellation Lyra, which gives its sanction to this ablution because of its proximity.  

The champion clip to position this ablution is successful nan greeting earlier sunrise. This ablution really is champion viewed from further north, but successful bully conditions you mightiness spot a fewer meteors per hr successful this portion of nan sky. Unfortunately, nan agleam Waning Gibbous Moon will beryllium a thorn successful nan broadside of your observations. 

Image: Apparent location of Lyrids comparative to Vega connected Apr 22. Credit: Stellarium 

The Full Moon this period occurs erstwhile nan Moon is astatine Apogee – its furthest region from Earth successful its orbit. This intends nan Full Moon will look smaller than mean and is sometimes called a Micromoon. In immoderate consciousness this is nan other of a Supermoon, but overmuch little reported on.  

ISS sightings from Perth 

The International Space Station passes overhead aggregate times a day. Most of these passes are excessively faint to spot but a mates of notable sightings* are: 

Planets to look for

Jupiter and Mars proceed to inhabit nan northwestern entity this month. Jupiter is approaching nan occidental sky and appears retired of nan twilight arsenic nan Sun sets. You still person a mates much months to spot Jupiter successful this portion of nan sky, but it is gradually moving down nan Sun truthful sooner is amended for immoderate observations.  

Image: Jupiter successful nan occidental entity during April. Credit: Stellarium 

Mars, having hung astir Gemini for nan past fewer months, makes a noticeable activity against nan inheritance stars. It almost seems to bent location successful nan northwest while nan inheritance stars support moving by it. That mobility of nan inheritance stars is really owed to Earth’s mobility astir nan Sun. 

The eastbound greeting entity is an absolute delight arsenic Mercury, Venus, Saturn and (with a telescope) Neptune are each visible earlier Sunrise. Venus will predominate nan eastbound entity arsenic nan ‘morning star’ for nan adjacent 6 months. If you spell retired connected nan greeting of Apr 25 aliases 26 you will spot nan 4 planets joined by nan Moon, each wrong a fewer degrees of each other.  

Image: Eastern entity connected nan greeting of Apr 26. Credit: Stellarium 

Constellation of nan month

Cancer – nan Crab 

Cancer is simply a mean sized constellation located successful nan bluish entity during April evenings. The sanction comes from nan ancient Latin connection for Crab, and truthful it is depicted arsenic thus. 

Image: Cancer, nan Crab, successful nan bluish sky. Credit: Stellarium 

The constellation is simply a zodiacal constellation, meaning that nan Sun’s way done nan entity complete a twelvemonth passes done this portion of nan sky. It is however, nan faintest of nan zodiacal constellations and is somewhat unremarkable to look at.  

The brightest prima Beta Cancri comes successful astatine only magnitude 3.5 and everything other is fainter. This prima system, astir 290 lightyears away, contains an orangish elephantine prima astir 50 times larger than nan Sun orbited by a mini reddish dwarf companion. 

Parhaps astir studied prima successful this constellation is nan faint prima 55 Cancri, a prima somewhat smaller than nan Sun orbited by a distant reddish dwarf. This astonishing prima strategy is known to incorporate astatine slightest 5 planets. In bid from nan superior prima they are: a ‘super Earth’ astir 8 times heavier than Earth, a Jupiter-sized state giant, 2 Neptune-sized planets, and lastly different Jupiter-sized planet.  

Image: Relative orbit sizes of nan 4 soul planets of nan 55 Cnc strategy to our ain Solar System. 

Excitingly, nan outermost Neptune-sized satellite (4th from nan star), called 55 Cnc f and besides known arsenic ‘Harriot’, is located successful the habitable zone of nan star. This is nan region from a prima wherever nan expected ambient somesthesia is betwixt 0-100 celcius – nan liquid temperatures of water. Being Neptune-sized, astronomers deliberation 55 Cnc f is apt a state planet, but location is nary shortage of speculation that nan satellite whitethorn person moons that could perchance beryllium covered successful oceans. More investigation is needed. 

Image: Artists belief of 55 Cnc f. 

Object for nan mini telescope

Messier 44 – nan Beehive Cluster 

Also known arsenic Praesepe, meaning ‘cot’, this unfastened cluster is located correct successful nan mediate of Cancer and consists of astir 1000 stars. Located astir 600 lightyears away, it fills astir 1.5 degrees of nan entity and is easy visible successful binoculars aliases smaller telescopes. Numerous O-type bluish stars are visible, arsenic good arsenic respective reddish giants, representing nan late-stage improvement of stars. 

Image: The Beehive Cluster, pinch nan brightest reddish and bluish stars visible. Credit: Fried Lauterbach. CC BY-SA 4.0