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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