Planets, Lyrid Meteors, The Moon And More In April 2025 Skywatching

Space.com

Jupiter and the crescent moon start off and end the month together. Find out where to see Mars and Venus as well. The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of April 21-22. Amazing globular cluster M3 is also available for skywatchers this month.   Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Transcript

00:00What's up for April?

00:04Planets at dusk and dawn, April showers,

00:08and observing a distant city of stars.

00:12First up in the evening sky, we begin and end the month

00:16with Jupiter and the crescent moon shining brightly together in the western

00:20sky as sunset fades. On both April 1st and 30th

00:24you can find the charming pair about half an hour after sunset,

00:28setting about three hours later. Mars is high overhead in the

00:32south on April evenings. At the start of the month it's directly in between

00:36bright stars Procyon and Pollux, but it moves

00:40noticeably during the month. You'll find the first quarter moon

00:44right next to Mars on April 4th and 5th. Moving to the

00:48morning sky, Venus has now made the switch from an evening object to a

00:52morning one. You may start to notice it rising low in the east before dawn

00:56looking a little higher each morning through the month. Around April

01:0024th and 25th you'll find

01:02Venus, Saturn, and the

01:04crescent moon gathered low in the east

01:06as dawn warms up the morning sky.

01:08Those with a clear view to the

01:10horizon may also pick out Mercury

01:12looking bright but very low in the

01:14sky.

01:16April brings shooting stars

01:18as Earth passes through one of the

01:20streams of comet dust that create our

01:22annual meteor showers.

01:24The Lyrids are a modest meteor

01:26shower that peaks overnight on April

01:2821st and into the morning of the

01:3022nd. You can expect up to

01:3215 meteors per hour near the peak

01:34under dark skies. The Lyrids are

01:36best observed from the northern hemisphere

01:38but can be seen from south of the equator as well.

01:40View them after about 10.30pm

01:42local time until dawn with the best

01:44viewing around 5am.

01:46The waning crescent moon will

01:48rise around 3.30am but at only

01:5027% full it shouldn't interfere

01:52too much with your meteor watching.

01:54For the best experience, face

01:56roughly toward the east, lie down

01:58in a safe, dark place away from

02:00bright lights and look straight overhead.

02:02Meteors can appear anywhere in the

02:04sky and some Lyrids can leave

02:06bright trails that last for a few seconds

02:08after they've passed.

02:10NASA studies meteors from the ground,

02:12in the air, and from orbit to

02:14forecast meteor activity and protect

02:16the spacecraft and to understand the

02:18composition of comets and asteroids

02:20throughout the solar system.

02:22April offers a chance to observe

02:24a truly distant wonder,

02:26a globular cluster known as

02:28M3. It's a vast

02:30collection of stars that

02:32lies 34,000 light-years

02:34from Earth in our galaxy's outer

02:36reaches. Astronomer Charles

02:38Messier discovered this object in

02:401764 while searching

02:42for new comets. Realizing

02:44that wasn't one, he added it to his

02:46list of interesting objects that were

02:48not comets, which today we know

02:50as Messier's catalog.

02:52Through binoculars, Messier 3,

02:54or M3, appears as a small

02:56fuzzy, star-like patch of light.

02:58With a small telescope,

03:00you'll see a more defined glow

03:02with a slightly grainy texture.

03:04And with a telescope 8 inches or

03:06larger, the cluster begins to resolve

03:08into hundreds of individual stars.

03:10Now, globular clusters contain

03:12some of the oldest stars in the

03:14universe, often over 10 billion

03:16years old. Unlike open

03:18clusters like the Pleiades, which sit

03:20within the Milky Way's spiral arms,

03:22globular clusters are found in the

03:24galaxy's halo, orbiting

03:26far above and below the Milky Way's

03:28disk. Our galaxy has around

03:30150 confirmed globular clusters.

03:32M3 itself is probably

03:3411 to 13 billion years

03:36old and contains around half

03:38a million stars. And it's

03:40relatively easy to find in April under

03:42dark skies, with binoculars or a small

03:44telescope. Finding M3

03:46starts with the Big Dipper.

03:48Facing east, use the

03:50Dipper's handle to arc to

03:52Arcturus, the fourth-brightest star

03:54in the night sky. From there,

03:56look higher in the sky to find the

03:58star Kor Kauruli, located here

04:00to the west of the Dipper's handle.

04:02It's about as bright as this star in

04:04the Dipper's cup. M3 is

04:06located roughly a third of the way from

04:08Arcturus to Kor Kauruli.

04:10With binoculars or a finderscope,

04:12sweep within this area until you

04:14spot a faint, round glow.

04:16M3 is an excellent target

04:18for beginners and seasoned observers

04:20alike. Whether using binoculars

04:22or a telescope, you'll be rewarded

04:24with a view of one of the oldest

04:26objects in our galaxy.

04:28Here are the phases of the Moon

04:30for April.

04:32Stay up to date on all of

04:34NASA's missions exploring the solar

04:36system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

04:38I'm Preston Dyches from

04:40NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

04:42and that's what's up for this month.

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