Society News and Night Sky Notes – April 2001

Society News Headlines


THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL 2001

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.


The Sun and Moon

All times are in BRITISH SUMMER TIME (BST) For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Please note change to BST

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           Apr 1st     Apr 6th     11th      16th      21st      26th        May 1st
SUNRISE    06:46        06:34      06:22     06:11     05:59     05:49       05:48
SUNSET     19:47        19:56      20:05     20:14     20:23     20:32       20:41
PHASES OF THE MOON DURING APRIL 2001
NEW MOON
on 23rd
at 16h:27m
FIRST QUARTER
on 30th
at 18h:08m
FULL MOON
on 8th
at 04h:23m
LAST QUARTER
on 15th
at 16h:32m

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.


MERCURY.

Mercury is not favourable to view this month being at Superior conjunction on the 23rd.


VENUS.

Venus lies VERY low down in the early morning sky moving from east-north-east to east by April’s end. It will remain only slightly favourable until late May when it starts a swift ascent.


MARS.

Mars, drawn by Ken Clarke, as viewed through a 10" F4.3 Reflector 308x,432x. w=14.4, seeing 3-5, at 00:00 UTC on November 4th, 1990

Mars, drawn by Ken Clarke, as viewed through a 10″ F4.3 Reflector 308x,432x.
w=14.4, seeing 3-5, at 00:00 UTC on November 4th, 1990

Mars remains a morning object but it won’t be long until its brightness and diameter start to increase to make it worthwhile telescopic object. At the start of the month Mars rises at 02h and crosses the meridian an hour before Sunrise. Still lying in Ophiuchus its eastwards apparent motion starts to slow. At 01hr on the 13th the Moon passes a mere 34′ north of Mars.


ASTEROIDS.

  • 29 Amphitrite is at oppostion at 9.3 in Virgo on April 6th/7th.
  • 532 Herculina is at oppostion at Mag 9.1 in Bootes on April 22nd.
  • 2 Pallas is at oppostion next month but can be found in Hercules at mag 9.4 on April 1st. Stationary on April 10th.
  • 1 Ceres is 0.9° South of Moon on April 15th.
  • 3 Juno in conjunction with the Sun on April 30th.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.


JUPITER.

Jupiter sets at midnight in the middle of the month and is therefore nicely placed for observations soon after Sunset.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.


SATURN.

Saturn, lying slightly to the west of Jupiter, lies 6° South of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus on the 24th. The Moon slides 2.5° South of Jupiter at 01hr on the 27th and 2° south of Saturn at 19hr on the 24th.


URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Uranus is slowly recovering from its February solar conjunction, and can be seen at Mag 5.9 in Capricornus.

 Positions for the 1st April

                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      21h:44m:15s           -14°:20':15"                   10h:17m             5.9

Like Uranus, Neptune is recovering from its solar conjunction in January and at mag 7.9 the approaching twilight will hinder chances of locating this outer planets.

 Positions for the 1st April

                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      20h:42m:57s           -18°:01'24"                   09h:16m             7.9

PLUTO.

Pluto can be found on the border of Ophiuchus and Scorpius, below and to left of the 4th magnitude stars zeta and 20 Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.

Positions for April are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.

DATE                      R.A.                   DEC                   TRANSIT TIME
April  1st             17h:00m:54s            -12°:02':53"                 05hr:32m
April 11th             17h:00m:08s            -12°:00':04"                 04hr:52m
April 21st             16h:59m:33s            -11°:57':17"                 04hr:12m

Pluto is best seen between April 15th – April 30th.


METEORS.

  • April 12th VIRGINIDS & alpha Virginids (6 per hour) UnFavourable
  • April 22nd APRIL LYRIDS (15-20 per hour) Favourable.
  • April 28th ALPHA SCORPIIDS (5 per hour) Favourable.

COMETS.

  • 10th April Comet Metcalf-Brewington at Perihelion (2.605AU).
  • 29th April Comet P/2000 T2 (Kushida-Muramastu at Perihelion (2.752AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.


OCCULTATIONS.

April 1st at 23h:50m Disappearance of delta Geminorum.(Double star mag 3.5 & 8.2)