Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.
April 30: Venus poses with a pair of stars
Saturn, rising early in the morning, has now become a bit easier to spot in the predawn sky. About 45 minutes before sunrise on May 1, it has reached an altitude of nearly 4° above the eastern horizon, glowing at magnitude 0.9.
Located in Cetus, you’ll find Saturn hanging below the Great Square of Pegasus, whose four bright stars will be some of the last to wink out of the sky as twilight brightens. A telescope will show the planet’s rings, although the image might appear “muddy” or blurry, as objects near the horizon are seen through a thicker column of air than when they are high in the sky.
Mars lies 7.6° east of Saturn, to the ringed planet’s lower left, but it is much lower (just under 2° high) and, at magnitude 1.2, a bit harder to spot. You can still catch it with binoculars or a small scope, although make sure you put away any optics at least several minutes before local sunrise.
Neptune, roughly the same distance but to Saturn’s west, is likely too faint to see in the brightening sky.
The Moon officially reaches Full phase at 1:23 P.M. EDT, so observers this evening can enjoy the Full May Flower Moon. It is also the first Full Moon of two that occur in the month of May; the second Full Moon on May 31 will bring us the year’s first and only Blue Moon.
Sunrise: 6:00 A.M.
Sunset: 7:55 P.M.
Moonrise: 8:21 P.M.
Moonset: 5:34 A.M.
Moon Phase: Full
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
