This week's sky offers a delightful mix of planetary pairings, meteor magic, and moon-free evenings for exploring the deep sky. The Lyrids shower Earth with streaks of comet dust, while Venus dazzles as it dances with Saturn and the slender crescent moon in the pre-dawn sky. With the new moon arriving Sunday, you'll have beautifully dark skies for galaxy hunting and deep-sky treasures.
Here's everything worth waking up early — or staying out late — for this week!
The Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak overnight, with up to 15–20 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Vega. The waning crescent moon won't interfere much, so find a dark, open sky and look slightly away from the radiant for longer, more dramatic meteor trails.
Before dawn, look east to catch the waning crescent moon shining about 10 degrees to the right of brilliant Venus. Saturn appears fainter and below Venus, while Mercury hovers near the horizon. The group rises around 5:15 a.m. local time, making for a stunning pre-sunrise lineup and great photo opportunity.
Just before sunrise, the old crescent moon forms a beautiful triangle with three planets — Venus, Saturn, and Mercury. The moon sits below Venus and left of Saturn, while Mercury twinkles lower left near the horizon.
Venus blazes at its brightest this morning, reaching its greatest illuminated extent. It shows a slim, 26%-lit crescent through telescopes but appears dazzling to the naked eye at magnitude -4.75. Rising around 4:20 a.m., Venus gleams just above Saturn in Pisces, making it the true "morning star" of late April.
The moon reaches its new phase at 3:31 p.m. EDT (1931 GMT), vanishing from view as it passes between Earth and the sun. With no moonlight to interfere, the nights ahead are ideal for deep-sky observing. Look west after sunset later in the week for the young crescent moon's return.
While the new moon on Sunday, April 27, brings dark skies perfect for deep-sky observing, I'm especially excited about the thin crescent moon in the days leading up to it. On April 25, it will shine to the lower left of Venus and to the left of Saturn—a lovely pre-dawn trio for skywatchers.
Feeling inspired to take a more in-depth moonlit tour of our rocky companion? Our ultimate guide to observing the moon will help you plan your next skywatching venture, whether it be exploring the lunar seas, mountainous terrain, or the many craters that blanket the landscape. You can also see where astronauts, rovers and landers have ventured with our Apollo landing sites observing guide.
On April 16, a 'cannibal' coronal mass ejection triggered powerful geomagnetic storms, sparking auroras across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In Tampere, Finland, Austin MacDonald captured jaw-dropping photos of the aurora show during the G4-level conditions.
"I was amazed and almost overwhelmed. Living in Finland, I see auroras pretty often, from small G1 storms to last year’s extreme G5 storm. But last night was something special." MacDonald told Space.com in an email on April 17.
MacDonald describes the activity ramping up considerably around 2345 EET (2045 UTC), at its peak, explosive, fast-moving auroras were visible overhead.
"It came on so fast, and it wasn’t just overhead, it was to the south, north, east, west... It felt like I was standing inside a 360-degree aurora sphere. It just made me feel incredibly small," Macdonald continued.
The best flashlights are an excellent light source for stargazers, so if you want to view the upcoming Eta Aquarid meteor shower, consider these products.
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