April Sky Shifts: Stargazing & Planetary Showcase

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April brings big shifts in the night sky

as the sun leaves Pisces on April 18th

at 6.23 p.m.

and enters Aries, pulling about 1.

Million 238,923 kilometers farther from Earth.

Days stretch longer too, from 13 hours 7 minutes of daylight on April 1st

to 15 hours 18 minutes by month in, stealing over.

Two hours of darkness.

That means prime stargazing time shrinks from 6 hours 17 minutes early

April to just 1 hour 55 minutes by the end.

The moon starts and finishes in Virgo with a full pink moon rising

April 2nd at 3.12 a.m.

Hit last quarter April 10th in Sagittarius.

Then a new Supermoon.

April 17th at 12.52 p.m. in Pisces, too dark to spot,

but Paragy brings it super close.

April 19th at 3.

161,646 kilometers away.

Catch it teaming up with Spaca, early April 3rd

and occulting Regulus, late April 26th.

Venus deals the evening show all month at minus 3.9 to magnitude,

climbing higher in Aries then,

Tours pair it with a waxing crescent, moon April 19th,

maybe visible pre-dawn.

Mercury brightens from 0.44 to minus 0.79,

hitting peak stretch April 3rd.

Jupiter and Gemini dims slightly but quadrates east April 5th,

while Mars edges closer and Aquarius to Pisces.

Lerid meteors fire up from April 14th to 30th,

peaking April 22nd near Vega with 18 per hour possible under a 34.

Percent lit moon oldest shower tracks since 687 BCE.

Dark skies fade fast toward endless twilight,

but Northerners get circumpolar.

Views of Draco and Cassiopeia.

Spring triangles pop, too.

Winter sets west with Sirius,

Summers rises east via Vega,

and springs rural south,

linking Arteras, Denevala, Spica.

Grab those scopes before May's light locks in the fun.