Evening sky looking North showing Saturn, Mars and the Moon at 10:00 pm local time on Sunday April 11. Click to embiggen.The New Moon is Wednesday April 14.
Saturn is rising around 6:30 pm local daylight saving time and is easily visible in the late evening sky as the bright yellow object between the bright stars Regulus and Spica. Saturn was at opposition, when it was at its biggest and brightest, on Monday March 22. However, now is still a very good time for telescopic observation of the ringed world. On the 15th, Saturns' Moon Titan cruises just under the planets south pole.
However, it is best to wait until 11 pm or midnight, when Saturn is quite high in the sky for the best telescopic views. Saturn's' rings are opening, and look quite beautiful, even in a small telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Mercury is lost in the twilight.
Bright white Venus continues to rise above from the twilight glow. People with flat, level horizons can see Venus above the western horizon half an hour after Sunset.
Jupiter is now relatively easy to see in the morning sky, above the eastern horizon. Jupiter is close to the crescent Moon on the morning of Monday 12 April.
Eastern horizon showing Jupiter at 5:30 am local time on Monday April 12, click to embiggen.In the evening Mars can be seen low in the northern sky as the brightest (and clearly red) object in that part of the sky. Red Mars is in the constellation of Cancer, nearly 3/4s of the way between Pollux and the Beehive Cluster. Mars is within binocular distance of the beautiful beehive cluster.
Mars also forms a line with the bright stars Sirius and Procyon. Mars forms another line with Regulus, Saturn and Spica.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch. Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
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