Thursday, April 02, 2026
April skies 2026
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| Eastern morning sky on Thursday, April 16 as seen from Adelaide at 5:45 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). Mars, the crescent Moon and Mercury form a triangle above the horizon with Saturn just below. Mars and Mercury are at their closest on the 21st with Saturn close by. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise) | North-western sky on Sunday, April 19 as seen from Adelaide at 18:13 ACST (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Venus and he thin crescent Moon are close together. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset) |
To be read in conjunction with the astrophiz podcast #231
| April | |
| 02 April 2026 | Full Moon |
| 07 April 2026 | Moon close to Antares (0.7° apart). Comet C/2026 A1 (MAS) may be visible low in the evening twilight |
| 15-16 April 2026 | Thin crescent Moon forms lineup with Mercury, Mars and Saturn in the Morning twilight. Mars around 4° from thin crescent Moon on the 16th |
| 19 April 2026 | Venus near to thin crescent moon in evening twilight (4.7° apart) |
| 19 -22 April 2026 | Mercury, Mars and Saturn form a triangle in the morning twilight. Mercury and Saturn closest on the 20th. |
| 23 April 2026 | Waxing Moon close to Jupiter (3.6° apart) in the evening |
| 24 April 2026 | "Lunar X" visible from 10:50 UT Telescope best |
| 26 April 2026 | Waxing moon close to Regulus in early evening |
| 27 April 2026 | Comet C/2025 R3 Panstars my be visible low in the evening twilight |
| April 2 | Full Moon |
| April 7 | Moon at apogee |
| April10 | Last Quarter Moon (ideal for star gazing) |
| April 17 | New Moon (also ideal for star gazing) |
| April 19 | Moon at perigee |
| April 24 | First Quarter Moon "Lunar X" visible |
Dates and time Lunar X and V are visible. Typically visible from about 4hours from the starting time.
| Date | UT | AEST | ACST | AWST |
| Apr 24 | 10:50 | 21:50 | 21:20 | 18:50 |
The First Quarter Moon is clearly visible above the horizon forming a triangle with Jupiter and Porcyon. The Lunar X and V may be seen in a telescope or strong binoculars. The inset shows the telescopic view at this time.
Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset).
Comets:
C/2026 A1 (MAS): This is a Kreutz family comet, one of a group of related comets that pass close to the sun. Everyone was excited that it might become a super bright comet. However, it’s brightness increase stalled (everyone gasped) then started up again (everyone cheered), with what looked to be an eruption plume.
Currently the two most likely outcomes are that the comet disintegrates before it reaches the sun (like comet ISON) or it breaks up after perihelion and forms a “headless” comet like C/2011 (W3) Lovejoy. In the latter case we may see a bright tail starching up from the horizon as twilight fades.
There is still (given the restart in brightness) the possibility that the comet will survive, and we will see a decent comet. The comet has passed intact through the STEREO H1 imager and is in the field of view of the PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellite, It has a magnitude of 6.5 and a tail extending more than 3 degrees. So fingers crossed for its survival.
There is the possibility the comet head will be around -3—4 magnitude, (about as bright as Venus), but it will fade rapidly and may be difficult to distinguish against the twilight by the time it is above the horizon in Australia.
C/2026 A1 perihelion is 4 April, the soonest we can see the comet head is probably the 6th or 7th depending on how bright it turns out to be. If there is a decent tail we should see it as the twilight fades.
Look to the west, bright Venus will be your guide, the comet should be to the west and a bit below. As the twilight fades the comet and its tail may become more visible. As the days progress the comet gets higher, but it will also be dimming rapidly.
We may see the tail in the late twilight, we may be in a C/2011 (W3) Lovejoy situation, where a bright, long headless tail was seen for a couple of days, or a C/2024 G3 Atlas situation, where a modest length but faint tail was visible in the late twilight for nearly a week. Either would be good.
C/2025 R3 (PANSTARS): This is also getting a fair bit of attention. While not predicted to be as bright as C/2026 A1, it could be either a good binocular comet or a modest to good unaided eye comet, depending on multiple factors. C/2025 R3’s perihelion is 20 April and is closest to the earth on April 27. It may be visible in Australia from the 27th if the brightest predictions are correct and from the 30th if more modest predictions are correct.
C/2025 R3 is not a sungrazer, it only gets as close to the sun as between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. Magnitude predictions run anywhere between magnitude 8 (about as bright as Neptune) and 2.8 (about as bright as delta Crucis), not spectacular but easily visible after nautical twilight.
Stars:
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| North-Eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 19:13 ACST on April 17 (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). The constellation of Leo is prominent. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen) | North-Eastern sky as seen from Adelaide at 19:04 ACST on April 26 (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). The constellation of Leo is prominent and the Moon is close to Regulus. Similar views will been seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen) |
As Taurus and Orion sink to the west, an important classical constellation, Leo, is coming to the northern sky. Not the zodiac sign Leo, due to the precession of the equinoxes this now covers Cancer.
Looking north you can see the pair of bright Procyon and Pollux, forming a triangle with Jupiter, looking east of this triangle the next bright star you see is blue white Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation of Leo the Lion.
From Regulus towards the horizon is a curved trail of stars, this is the sickle of leo, the Leonid meteor shower 's radiant is in the sickle of Leo.
Returning to Regulus, looking east the next brightish star you see is theta Leonis. In 10x50 binoculars, under dark skies, in the same binocular field you may see a whiteish smudge, the is the galaxy M66. In a telescope the galaxy M65 is nearby.
On the 26th the Moon is close to Regulus, and an occultation is seen in North and South America.
Labels: Monthly sky
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