ORLANDO, Fla. – April starts off with the conjunction of our moon and Mars in the evening sky. A conjunction is when two objects get close together from a certain vantage point, but in reality, they are far apart.
Mars and the moon will also be hanging with the twins. The stars Castor and Pollux of the Gemini constellation will also be close.
April 12: Full Moon
April’s full moon, also known as the Pink Moon, reaches peak illumination after 8 p.m. on April 12. It gets its name because pink flowers begin to bloom.
This year, the pink moon also doubles as the Paschal Moon, setting the date for Easter.
April 21: Lyrid Meteor Shower
Find a dark sky away from as many lights as possible to catch the annual Lyrid meteor shower.
The best time to catch a glimpse of this meteor shower is late in the evening on April 21 and early in the morning on April 22. The crescent moon will rise a few hours after midnight, helping to dampen some of the fainter meteors of the show.
This isn’t one of the more prolific meteor-producing showers; however, if you find a dark sky, you can expect to see 10-15 per hour.
April 25: Smiley face in the sky?
Like with the “Christmas Star” in 2020, social media takes something and twists it into something it’s not.
The Great Conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn was spectacular; however, fake photos showing one bright star circulated around the internet, leading some to believe it would be more prominent than it actually was.
This time around, viral posts claim that the moon and two planets will form a smiley face in the night sky. The post also mentions Jupiter as one of the planets involved, but Jupiter isn’t visible in the evening sky in April.
In reality, two planets will be hanging out very close to the moon on April 25, but they won’t form a smiley face. Venus and Saturn will be to the right of the moon with only a sliver of the moon illuminated. Venus will be the brighter of the two planets.
That same post claiming there would be a smiley face in the night sky also went around in 2020. It didn’t happen then either.
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