This week in the sky we have a meteor shower and our largest planets in conjunction with the Moon.
| Date | Event |
|---|
| April 22 | Uranus in conjunction with Sun |
| April 22 | Lyrid Meteors Peak |
| April 23 | Jupiter 1.6°S of Moon |
| April 25 | Saturn 0.4°N of Moon |
| April 26 | Last Quarter |
On Monday, (April 22) the Lyrid Meteor Shower will radiate from a location pointed at with a line drawn through Epsilon and Alpha Lyrae.
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| Lyrid Meteor Shower (Image Credit: Yuri Beletsky) |
Lyra will be in the northeastern sky around midnight. The best time to see meteors will be when the constellation reaches a higher location in the sky. If you are casually looking at the sky during this evening all you need to know is look northeast and hope for a meteor sighting!
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| Lyrid Meteor Shower Radiant |
Although not as prolific as some of the other major showers we may be lucky to see 5-10 per hour from suburban Calgary. The table below shows the approximate hourly rate based on observing location.
| City | Suburbs | Rural | Optimal |
|---|
| 3 | 5 | 10 | 18 |
Jupiter and Saturn will both be in conjunction with the Moon and visible in the early morning. Check out the southern sky a couple hours before the Sun rises and you will see our largest planets dance with the Moon on April 23 and 25th.
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| Jupiter/Moon Conjunction (April 23, 2019) |
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| Saturn/Moon Conjunction (April 25, 2019) |
The end of the week brings a last quarter Moon which will allow dark skies throughout most of the night. This is a perfect time to get out to a dark site with binoculars, telescope or just your eyes to see what the sky has to offer. With the weather warming up and the majority of the bugs absent this is some of the best viewing of the year.
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