The Magazine of The Sierra Club
April Observing Highlights: Falling Stars and a Pink Full Moon
Head outside on April 22 to catch both the Lyrid and Eta Aquarids meteor showers
Photo courtesy of K.L. Luhman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.); G. Schneider, E. Young, G. Rieke, A. Cotera, H. Chen, M. Rieke, R. Thompson (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.), and NASA/ESA
April is the month of falling stars, starting with the Lyrid meteor shower, which will peak around April 22 and 23. The Lyrids can produce up to 18 meteors an hour, and they leave persistent trains, making them fun to track. A May meteor shower known as the Eta Aquarids will be getting started as early as April 19, so you may see both Lyrids and Eta Aquarids if you go out looking on the evening of Saturday, April 22.
April’s full moon is called a pink full moon, not because it will look pink, but because this is the time of the year in the United States when many flowers are beginning to bloom. It takes place on April 11 for the eastern half of the country and on April 10 for the western half. For example, the moon will be fullest in California on April 10 at 11:08 P.M. but in Florida on April 11 at 2:08 A.M.
When the moon is full, the bright point of light closest to it will be Jupiter. The star below this pair will be Spica, which is the brightest star in Virgo. But this is not the only time in April that the moon will pair closely with bright stars. On April 6, a waxing moon will sit next to the star Regulus in Leo. On April 27, a crescent moon will appear in the west near the V-shaped Hyades cluster of Taurus as well as reddish Mars. April 28 finds the moon above the V of the Hyades and its brightest star, Aldebaran.
With the start of spring, the stars of winter are beginning to set, including Taurus and the Orion constellation. While you still have a chance, take a look at the nebula found in the sword that hangs off Orion’s belt. To the naked eye, it will appear as a blurry patch. But with binoculars or a telescope, you will see distinctly the stars that light up this gaseous cloud, which are known as the Trapezium. Astronomers have observed these stars moving in irregular ways, leading them to believe that a black hole lies within this cluster, tugging at the stars with its unseen hand. If a black hole is ever confirmed here, it will be the closest known black hole to Earth at a distance of just 1,500 light years. The stars of the Trapezium cluster are a mere 3 million years old (compare that to our own star’s age of 4.5 billion years) and may have been created through black hole collision.
