The Last Minute Astronomer - April Episode

April 2024: Finally the month of the eclipse! A wonderful experience for North America, the Lyrid Meteor Shower, and lots of planetary action makes April of 2024 one of THE best months in a LONG time.   I’m Rob Webb, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare. As usual, we’ll start by talking about where the naked eye planets are this month, move on to the lunar phases, and finish up with a calendar of events, so you can plan ahead better than me.    Last Quarter Moon – 1st (Visible midnight into the morning) Morning Crescents (look East in the AM) New Moon – 8th (darkest skies) Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset) First Quarter Moon – 15th (Visible until midnight) Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset) Full Moon – 23rd (Visible all night) Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)   5th - 6th – CLOSE ENCOUNTER – Moon, Mars, Saturn – Get out between 5:30am and 6:30am and get a very clear look at the ESE horizon. During that hour, you should be able to see the Moon as a VERY thin crescent, with Saturn bright and 14 ̊ to the left of the Moon, with Mars up and to the right of Saturn a little bit. Then, on the 6th, the Moon will move to be below both Saturn and Mars, making a thin triangle.   8th – TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE – We’re going to skip over that, not because it’s not important. I’ve been preparing for it for 6 years now. But we’ve had PLENTY of coverage of it so far and there are better places to give you more information that you’re looking for. In fact, I’ll link some videos I’ve created or participated in for better info.   10th – CLOSE ENCOUNTER – Mars, Saturn – Get out again between 5:30am and 6:30am and get a very clear look at the ESE. Mars and Saturn will be as close as they’re gonna get, about ½˚ apart, with Mars on top. It’ll be tough to see, all that more rewarding when you do.    10th – CLOSE ENCOUNTER – Moon, Jupiter – Get out after sunset, look W, and the Moon will be only 4˚ to the right of Jupiter.     22nd – LYRID METEOR SHOWER – At only 10-20 meteors per hour, it is a minor shower, and we have essentially a Full Moon to get massively in the way of observing. The shower is greatest on the 22nd, but you might see some on the 21st and 23rd as well. Just remember each meteor is a piece of debris left over from a comet, and we’re crashing into it at over 100,000 miles per hour, which crushes the atmosphere it hits, heating it up and causing the bright flash. There is no real best time to see these this year, but you never know when you’ll see something awesome.  Some advice for watching:  - Find a dark location and lie down in a reclining chair or something that insulates you from the ground. - Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear  - Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something.     We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].