This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 April 13 – April 20
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 April 13 – April 20
In April we can start a long goodbye with the winter constellations. Orion and Taurus are setting together, which makes it easier to imagine their eternal battle. The bull is protecting the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) from the amorous advances of Orion, who is about to strike a downward blow to the bull’s head with his upraised club. The bull’s long horns, one tip of which is the bottom left star of Auriga (Elnath – officially the second brightest star of Taurus), are not to be taken lightly. It is difficult to tell which of the two combatants is more dangerous.
The winter constellations of Auriga and Gemini are still up past midnight but Rigel, in the knee of Orion and the low point of the Winter Circlet of bright stars, is setting around 10:30 pm. With the Pleiades sinking in western twilight, through a thicker layer of our atmosphere, they will twinkle more. I have a pleasant memory of seeing them with binoculars when they were low in the west, flickering wildly like candles on a birthday cake. I had the urge to make a wish and blow them out.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:35 and sunset will occur at 8:04, giving 13 hours, 29 minutes of daylight (6:41 and 8:08 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:23 and set at 8:13, giving 13 hours, 50 minutes of daylight (6:29 and 8:17 in Saint John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Monday with the Lunar X appearing just inside the unlit portion around 10 pm. Saturn rises just ahead of Mars this weekend, about 70 minutes before sunrise, and gradually increases both gaps over the week. Mercury passes Venus in dawn this week but both are too close to the Sun for observing. Jupiter is low in the west in evening twilight and binoculars might reveal Uranus two degrees above it and comet 12P/Pons-Brooks as a hazy blur within the view below it.
The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre at 7 pm this Saturday. On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.