April 2011
Everything mentioned here can be seen with the naked eye.
April 2011:
The April nighttime sky highlight is the appearance of the planet Saturn in the east after 8:00 pm. Saturn will look like a large star with a slightly yellow tint. A fun fact about Saturn is that it takes almost thirty years to orbit the Sun. Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, is larger than the planet Mercury.
On April 12, look west as Vandenberg Air Force Base launches a giant Atlas rocket with a national Reconnaissance satellite.
April 17 is the full moon. Native American lore named this month's full moon the "Fish Moon" because fish would start to swim upstream to spawn at this time. On April 21 and 22 look straight up at 8:00 p.m. for a few hours as the Lyrid Meteor showers peaks before the moon rises at 10:00 p.m.
Make sure you get up before dawn on Friday, April 29th and 30th in order to see an amazing sight. The planets Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, along with a thin crescent moon will all rise in the east and appear very close to one another.
