The Night Sky April 2011
Compiled by Ian Morison
This page, updated monthly, will let you know some of the things that you can look out for in the night sky. It lists the phases of the Moon, where you will see the naked-eye planets and describes some of the prominent constellations in the night sky during the month.
Image of the Month
Mare Orientale imaged by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA, GFSC, Arizona State University.
This stunning image of Mare Orientale was taken by the wide angle camera of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Orientale is a partially flooded impact basin that is 600 miles across and about about 3 billion years old. The impact caused ripples in the lunar crust resulting in the concentric circular structures. Sadly, we can only see its extreme edge from Earth when the Moon has a suitable libration. The best chance of observing it this year is on the night of 20th/21st August when it is just visible on the limb to the left of Mare Humorum.
Highlights of the Month
April: Observe Saturn in the evening sky and split a nearby double star, Porrima.
Cassini Image of Saturn
Image NASA
To see some of Damian Peache's Saturn Images: Damian Peache's website
Saturn is now rising in the southern sky during the evening lying in the constellation Virgo close to the star Porrima. The rings are now ~ 8 degrees from the line of site and so Saturn appears brighter than for a couple of years, but it will not be until 2016 that they will be at their widest again. A small telescope will easily show its largest moon, Titan, and show some bands around the surface. See further details below in the "Planets" section. Having viewed Saturn with a small telescope, move just a little to the right to see if you can split the double star Gamma Virginis or Porrima. Porrima is made up of two identical stars, each of magnitude 3.5. Back in 1919, there were separated by 6 arc seconds, so could easily be split in a small telescope, but around 2005 (at periastron) the pair were so close that they could barely be split, but now they are opening out again and, this spring, should be separated by ~1.7 arc seconds. This means that with good seeing a small telescope should be able to split them again - so why not try?
Dawn April 1st: A thin Crescent Moon and Venus
Venus and the Crescent Moon
Image:Stellarium/IM
After Sunset April 5th: See the "Old Moon" in the New Moon's arms.
The Old Moon in the New Moon's arms.
Image: Ian Morison
On the evening of April 5th after sunset you may see a very thin, 2 day old, crescent Moon low in the west. If (as is usual!) there is good cloud cover on the Earth, binoculars should show you the "Old Moon" in the New Moon's arms as shown in the image taken by the author exactly one month earlier. It was taken using a Nikon D7000 camera attached to a Takahashi FS102 apochromat refractor and is a composite of two images: one exposed for the New Moon and one for the Old.
April 11th: The Alpine Valley
Alpine Valley region
An interesting valley on the Moon: The Alpine Valley
These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb (on the 11th) is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. Over the next two nights the dark crater Plato and the young crater Copernicus will come into view. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!
The Alpine valley and the crater Plato
The Lyrid meteor Shower on the night of 22/23rd April
The Radiant of the Lyrid meteor Shower
Stellarium/IM
The Lyrid Meteor Shower - so called as the radiant (from where the meteor trails seem to radiate from) lies in the constellation Lyra. It peaks in the early morning of the 22nd April and is a reliable, though not spectacular, shower with perhaps up to 15 meteors seen per hour. Observations of the Lyrid meteors have been made for at least 2,600 years! Sadly, this year the peak of activity is only a couple of days after the full moon which will make the meteor trails harder to see, but the Moon will be low in the south so there may be a reasonable chance of spotting some. Observations made after 1 am are expected to be the most productive. The dust particles that cause the shower have been released by the comet Thatcher, discovered in 1861. Occasionally we pass through a dense clump of particles as happened in 1982 when over 90 meteors were seen per hour. So its worth waking up to have a look if clear around 1-2 am. Look to the East as shown in the chart.
Dawn on April 29th and 30th: Four planets and a Crescent Moon in the pre-dawn sky
Dawn Planets
Image:Stellarium/IM
On the last two mornings of the month, given a clear low eastern horizon, there will be four planets and a thin crescent Moon visible just above. You will need binoculars, so cease looking when the Sun has risen!
A Messier Object imaged with the Faulkes Telescope: NGC891 - an Edge-on Spiral Galaxy
The Edge On Galaxy NGC 891
Image:Nik Szymanik
Faulkes Telescope North.
The Eagle Nebula, M16, imaged by Nik Szymanek.
This image was taken using the Faulkes Telescope North by Nik Szymanek - one of the UK's leading astro-photograpers. It lies at a distance of ~30 million light years and is (it is now believed) a barred spiral. It looks somewhat like we suspect our own galaxy would look from a similar distance and has the same Hubble classification as the Milky Way: SBb.
Learn more about the Faulkes Telescopes and how schools can use them: Faulkes Telescope"
Observe the International Space Station
The International Space Station and Jules Verne passing behind the Lovell Telescope on April 1st 2008.
Image by Andrew Greenwood
Use the link below to find when the space station will be visible in the next few days. In general, the space station can be seen either in the hour or so before dawn or the hour or so after sunset - this is because it is dark and yet the Sun is not too far below the horizon so that it can light up the space station. As the orbit only just gets up the the latitude of the UK it will usually be seen to the south, and is only visible for a minute or so at each sighting. Note that as it is in low-earth orbit the sighting details vary quite considerably across the UK. The NASA website linked to below gives details for several cities in the UK. (Across the world too for foreign visitors to this web page.)
Note: I observed the ISS three times recently and was amazed as to how bright it has become.
Find details of sighting possibilities from your location from: Location Index
See where the space station is now: Current Position
The Moon
The Moon at 3rd Quarter. Image, by Ian Morison, taken with a 150mm Maksutov-Newtonian and Canon G7.
Just below the crator Plato seen near the top of the image is the mountain "Mons Piton". It casts a long shadow across the maria from which one can calculate its height - about 6800ft or 2250m.
| new moon | first quarter | full moon | last quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 3rd | April 11th | April 18th | April 25th |
Some Lunar Images by Ian Morison, Jodrell Bank Observatory: Lunar Images
A World Record Lunar Image
The 9 day old Moon.
To mark International Year of Astronomy, a team of british astronomers have made the largest lunar image in history and gained a place in the Guinness Book of Records! The whole image comprises 87.4 megapixels with a Moon diameter of 9550 pixels. This allows details as small as 1km across to be discerned! The superb quality of the image is shown by the detail below of Plato and the Alpine Valley. Craterlets are seen on the floor of Plato and the rille along the centre of the Alpine valley is clearly visible. The image quality is staggering! The team of Damian Peach, Pete lawrence, Dave Tyler, Bruce Kingsley, Nick Smith, Nick Howes, Trevor Little, David Mason, Mark and Lee Irvine with technical support from Ninian Boyle captured the video sequences from which 288 individual mozaic panes were produced. These were then stitched together to form the lunar image.
Plato and the Alpine Valley.
Please follow the link to the Lunar World Record website and it would be really great if you could donate to Sir Patrick Moore's chosen charity to either download a full resolution image or purchase a print.
The Planets
A montage of the Solar System. JPL / Nasa
Jupiter
A Cassini image of Jupiter . Nasa
Jupiter passes behind the Sun on April 6th (inferior conjunction) so will not be visible until towards the end of the month when it will rise shortly before the Sun and might be glimpsed just above the eastern horizon with binoculars. Its magnitude will then be -2.1 and it will have an angular size of 33.4 arc seconds. It is not really a good month to observe it!
See Highlight above.Saturn
The planet Saturn. Cassini - Nasa
Saturn. Saturn is now an evening object rising before sunset at the beginning of the April. It reaches opposition to the Sun on the night of April 3rd/4th so will be seen due south, and hence highest in the sky, at about midnight (UT). It starts April with a magnitude of +0.4 and, as the month progresses, its brightness decreases a touch to +0.5. Compared to last year, its apparent brightness has now increased as the rings have opened out again - now tilted 8 to 9 degrees from edge on. (Though, due to the changing aspect from our moving viewpoint, they are slightly less open than a few months ago and their angle drops from +8.8 down to +7.8 degrees during the month.) The plus sign indicates that we are seeing Saturn's north pole. The rings span an angular size of 44 arc seconds as April begins - over double the 19 arc seconds of the planet's disk. Given a small telescope it should now be possible to see Cassini's division - a dark band that separates the A and B rings. It will also show Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, (at magnitude +8) and, given good conditions, other moons as well.
See Highlight above.
Mercury
Messenger image of Mercury Nasa
Mercury passes in front the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 9th of April so will not be visible until the very end of the month when it reappears before dawn very low in the east at a magnitude of +0.9.
See Highlight above.
Mars
A Hubble Space Telescope image of Mars.
Jim Bell et al. AURA / STScI / Nasa
Mars has now passed behind the Sun and emerges into the pre-dawn sky towards the middle of April but, as the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon, it will have a very low elevation. To spot it, a good, low, eastern horizon and a pair of binoculars will be needed. This month, it has a magnitude of +1.2 and an angular size of 4 arc seconds.
See Highlight above.
Venus
Venus showing some cloud structure
Venus remains a pre-dawn object shining at a magnitude of -3.9 at the beginning of the month when it can be seen in the pre-dawn sky rising about 80 minutes before the Sun. But, though its angular separation from the Sun is still large, it is not that high above the eastern horizon. As it moves towards the far side of the Sun, its angular size is reducing - from 13.2 arc seconds down to 11.7 arc seconds during the month - but at the same time we see more of its disk illuminated so its apparent magnitude remains unchanged.
See Highlight above.
Radar image showing surface features
Find more planetary images and details about the Solar System: The Solar System
The Stars
The mid evening April Sky
The April Sky in the south - mid evening.
This map shows the constellations seen in the south in mid-evening.
The constellation Gemini is now setting towards the south-west and Leo holds pride (sic) of place in the south with its bright star Regulus. Between Gemini and Leo lies Cancer. Close to the boundary of these two constellation is where, this month, the planet Saturn may be found. It is well worth observing with binoculars to see the Beehive Cluster at its heart. Below Gemini is the tiny constellation of Canis Minor whose only bright star is Procyon. Rising in the south-east is the constellation Virgo whose brightest star is Spica. Though Virgo has few bright stars it is in the direction of of a great cluster of galaxies - the Virgo Cluster - which lies at the centre of the supercluster of which our local group of galaxies is an outlying member. The constellation Ursa Major is high in the northern sky during the evening this month and contains many interesting objects.
The constellation Gemini
Gemini - click on image to enlarge
Gemini - The Twins - lies up and to the left of Orion and is in the south-west during early evenings this month. It contains two bright stars Castor and Pollux of 1.9 and 1.1 magnitudes respectivly. Castor is a close double having a separation of ~ 3.6 arc seconds making it a fine test of the quality of a small telescope - providing the atmospheric seeing is good! In fact the Castor system has 6 stars - each of the two seen in the telescope is a double star, and there is a third, 9th magnitude, companion star 73 arcseconds away which is alos a double star! Pollux is a red giant star of spectral class K0. The planet Pluto was discovered close to delta Geminorum by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The variable star shown to the lower right of delta Geminorum is a Cepheid variable, changing its brightness from 3.6 to 4.2 magnitudes with a period of 10.15 days
M35 and NGC 2158
This wonderful image was taken by Fritz Benedict and David Chappell using a 30" telescope at McDonal Observatory. Randy Whited combined the three colour CCD images to make the picture
M35 is an open star cluster comprising several hundred stars around a hundred of which are brighter than magnitude 13 and so will be seen under dark skies with a relativly small telescope. It is easily spotted with binoculars close to the "foot" of the upper right twin. A small telescope at low power using a wide field eyepiece will show it at its best. Those using larger telescopes - say 8 to 10 inches - will spot a smaller compact cluster NGC 2158 close by. NGC 2158 is four times more distant that M35 and ten times older, so the hotter blue stars will have reached the end of their lives leaving only the longer-lived yellow stars like our Sun to dominate its light.
The Eskimo Nebula, NGC2392, Hubble Space Telescope
To the lower right of the constellation lies the Planetary Nebula NGC2392. As the Hubble Space Telescope image shows, it resembles a head surrounded by the fur collar of a parka hood - hence its other name The Eskimo Nebula. The white dwarf remnant is seen at the centre of the "head". The Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1787. It lies about 5000 light years away from us.
The constellation Leo
Leo - click on image to enlarge
The constellation Leo is now in the south-eastern sky in the evening. One of the few constellations that genuinely resembles its name, it looks likes one of the Lions in Trafalger Square, with its main and head forming an arc (called the Sickle) to the upper right, with Regulus in the position of its right knee. Regulus is a blue-white star, five times bigger than the sun at a distance of 90 light years. It shines at magnitude 1.4. Algieba, which forms the base of the neck, is the second brightest star in Leo at magnitude 1.9. With a telescope it resolves into one of the most magnificent double stars in the sky - a pair of golden yellow stars! They orbit their common centre of gravity every 600 years. This lovely pair of orange giants are 170 light years away.
Leo also hosts two pairs of Messier galaxies which lie beneath its belly. The first pair lie about 9 degrees to the west of Regulus and comprise M95 (to the east) and M96. They are almost exactly at the same declination as Regulus so, using an equatorial mount, centre on Regulus, lock the declination axis and sweep towards the west 9 degrees. They are both close to 9th magnitude and may bee seen together with a telescope at low power or individually at higher powers. M65 is a type Sa spiral lying at a distance of 35 millin klight years and M66, considerably bigger than M65, is of type Sb. Type Sa spirals have large nuclei and very tightly wound spiral arms whilst as one moves through type Sb to Sc, the nucleus becomes smaller and the arms more open.
The galaxies M65 and M66
M65 - Type Sa spiral, 9.3 magnitude M66 - Type Sb spiral, 8.9 magnitude
The second pair of galaxies, M95 and M96, lie a further 7 degrees to the west between the stars Upsilon and Iota Leonis. M95 is a barred spiral of type SBb. It lies at a distance of 38 million light years and is magnitude 9.7. M96, a type Sa galaxy, is slightly further away at 41 million light years, but a little brighter with a magnitude of 9.2. Both are members of the Leo I group of galaxies and are visible together with a telescope at low power.
The galaxies M95 and M96
M95 - Type SBb spiral, 9.7 magnitude M96 - Type Sa spiral, 9.2 magnitude
There is a further ~9th magnitude galaxy in Leo which, surprisingly, is in neither the Messier or Caldwell catalogues. It lies a little below lambda Leonis and was discovered by William Herschel. No 2903 in the New General Catalogue, it is a beautiful type Sb galaxy which is seen at somewhat of an oblique angle. It lies at a distance of 20.5 million light years.
The 8.9th magnitude, type Sb, Galaxy NGC2903
The constellation Virgo
Virgo
Virgo, rising in the east in late evening this month, is not one of the most prominent constellations, containing only one bright star, Spica, but is one of the largest and is very rewarding for those with "rich field" telescopes capable of seeing the many galaxies that lie within its boundaries. Spica is, in fact, an exceedingly close double star with the two B type stars orbiting each other every 4 days. Their total luminosity is 2000 times that of our Sun. In the upper right hand quadrant of Virgo lies the centre of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. There are 13 galaxies in the Messier catalogue in this region, all of which can be seen with a small telescope. The brightest is the giant elliptical galaxy, M87, with a jet extending from its centre where there is almost certainly a massive black hole into which dust and gas are falling. This releases great amounts of energy which powers particles to reach speeds close to the speed of light forming the jet we see. M87 is also called VIRGO A as it is a very strong radio source.
The Giant Elliptical Galaxy M87 HST image showing the jet
Below Porrima and to the right of Spica lies M104, an 8th magnitude spiral galaxy about 30 million light years away from us. Its spiral arms are edge on to us so in a small telescope it appears as an elliptical galaxy. It is also known as the Sombrero Galaxy as it looks like a wide brimmed hat in long exposure photographs.
M104 - The Sombrero Galaxy
The constellation Ursa Major
Ursa Major
The stars of the Plough, shown linked by the thicker lines in the chart above, form one of the most recognised star patterns in the sky. Also called the Big Dipper, after the soup ladles used by farmer's wives in America to serve soup to the farm workers at lunchtime, it forms part of the Great Bear constellation - not quite so easy to make out! The stars Merak and Dubhe form the pointers which will lead you to the Pole Star, and hence find North. The stars Alcor and Mizar form a naked eye double which repays observation in a small telescope as Mizar is then shown to be an easily resolved double star. A fainter reddish star forms a triangle with Alcor and Mizar.
Ursa Major contains many interesting "deep sky" objects. The brightest, listed in Messier's Catalogue, are shown on the chart, but there are many fainter galaxies in the region too. In the upper right of the constellation are a pair of interacting galaxies M81 and M82 shown in the image below. M82 is undergoing a major burst of star formation and hence called a "starburst galaxy". They can be seen together using a low power eyepiece on a small telescope.
M81 and M82
Another, and very beautiful, galaxy is M101 which looks rather like a pinwheel firework, hence its other name the Pinwheel Galaxy. It was discovered in1781 and was a late entry to Messier's calalogue of nebulous objects. It is a type Sc spiral galaxy seen face on which is at a distance of about 24 million light years. Type Sc galaxies have a relativly small nucleus and open spiral arms. With an overall diameter of 170,000 light it is one of the largest spirals known (the Milky Way has a diameter of ~ 130,000 light years).
M101 - The Ursa Major Pinwheel Galaxy
Though just outside the constellation boundary, M51 lies close to Alkaid, the leftmost star of the Plough. Also called the Whirlpool Galaxy it is being deformed by the passage of the smaller galaxy on the left. This is now gravitationally captured by M51 and the two will eventually merge. M51 lies at a distance of about 37 million light years and was the first galaxy in which spiral arms were seen. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1773 and the spiral structure was observed by Lord Rosse in 1845 using the 72" reflector at Birr Castle in Ireland - for many years the largest telescope in the world.
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
Lying close to Merak is the planetary nebula M97 which is usually called the Owl Nebula due to its resemblance to an owl's face with two large eyes. It was first called this by Lord Rosse who drew it in 1848 - as shown in the image below right. Planetary nebulae ar the remnants of stars similar in size to our Sun. When all possible nuclear fusion processes are complete, the central core collpses down into a "white dwarf" star and the the outer parts of the star are blown off to form the surrounding nebula.
M97 - The Owl Planetary Nebula Lord Rosse's 1848 drawing of the Owl Nebula
