{"id":272,"date":"2018-03-26T16:05:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T16:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=272"},"modified":"2018-03-26T20:29:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T20:29:54","slug":"april-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/april-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jupiter

Jupiter late March to mid June 2018<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Planet watching is best in the morning this month. Jupiter, actually rising in late evening, remains in the diamond of Libra moving retrograde (westward) toward Zubenelgenubi. If you\u2019ve been watching Mars since the beginning of the year, you\u2019ve seen it pass right on by Jupiter in January and Antares in February. In March, the red planet moved alongside the teapot lid of Sagittarius where much slower Saturn has been since January. Now Saturn and Mars are together at the start of April and easy to see for a few hours before the sun rises. Northern hemisphere viewers should look southeast. Mars doesn\u2019t stay for a long visit, but the moon drops in on them on the 7<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>. By the end of April, Mars is clearly heading out of Sagittarius on its way to Capricornus.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Saturn

Saturn and Mars April 2018<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evening stargazing features Venus ever bright but low in the western sky right after sunset. It holds steady night to night as the stars behind it drop into the sun\u2019s glare. A thin crescent moon passes left of the planet on the 18<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>. Watch the planet pass between the Pleiades and the Hyades on the 27<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Venus

Venus in April 2018<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>Don\u2019t expect to see much dimmer Mercury this month from the northern hemisphere. It starts April at inferior conjunction. And even though it\u2019s at greatest elongation 27\u00b0 west of the sun on the 27<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, it\u2019s just not well positioned this time for the northern observer at the end of the month. But if you\u2019re seeing it from 25\u00b0 south, you have the best view with the planet rising about two hours before the sun!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a sign that northern winter\u2019s over, Orion is setting very early in the evening this month.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moon phases in April: Last quarter on the 8<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, new on the 16<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, first quarter on the 22<\/span><\/span>nd<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, full on the 30<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The moon\u2019s positions: southern lunistice on the 7<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, crossing the equator going north on the 14<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, northern lunistice on the 21<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, and going south again on the 27<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The moon is at apogee on the 8<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> and perigee on the 20<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Saturn is at aphelion on the 16<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> at 10.666 astronomical units from the sun. Mercury is at aphelion on the 23<\/span><\/span>rd<\/span><\/span><\/sup> with a distance of 0.467 a.u. from the sun.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury resumes direct motion on the 14<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>. Saturn begins retrograde motion on the 17<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The moon occults Aldebaran on the 19<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>. The far northern parts of Greenland and Canada\u2019s Northwest Territories are the visibility zone. Regulus is occulted on the 24<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>. Northern parts of Russia are where to be to see it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Notable conjunctions this month:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Moon 6.9\u00b0 north of Spica<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Moon 2.8\u00b0 north of sun, inferior conjunction<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/span>nd<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Mars 1.3\u00b0 south of Saturn<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3<\/span><\/span>rd<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Jupiter 3.8\u00b0 south of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

7<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Saturn 1.9\u00b0 south of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

7<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Mars 3.1\u00b0 south of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

13<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Neptune 1.8\u00b0 north of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

14<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Mercury 3.6\u00b0 north of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

16<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Uranus 4.4\u00b0 north of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

17<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Venus 5.2\u00b0 north of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

18<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Uranus 0.5\u00b0 south of the sun<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

19<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Moon 1.0\u00b0 north of Aldebaran<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

24<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Moon 1.2\u00b0 north of Regulus<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

26<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Pluto 1.4\u00b0 north of Mars<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Moon 6.9\u00b0 north of Spica<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

30<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> Jupiter 3.7\u00b0 south of the moon<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Planet watching is best in the morning this month. Jupiter, actually rising in late evening, remains in the diamond of Libra moving retrograde (westward) toward Zubenelgenubi. If you\u2019ve been watching Mars since the beginning of the year, you\u2019ve seen it pass right on by Jupiter in January and Antares in February. In March, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-49"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}