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April 29: Jupiter nudges up to Wasat
Venus ends the month of April near a pair of 4th-magnitude stars in Taurus the Bull: Kappa (κ) and Upsilon (υ) Tauri. The bright planet now lies to the upper right of 1st-magnitude Aldebaran, the Bull’s eye, and to the upper left of the Pleiades open cluster.
Venus is slightly closer to Kappa, standing just 20’ to this star’s northwest (right). Upsilon sits above Venus, just over 0.5° to the planet’s northeast. You’ll be able to view all three together in a telescope, as well as fainter field stars in the area not as readily visible to the naked eye. Venus is now slightly larger than earlier in the week, spanning 12”, but has also waned a bit, now 88 percent lit.
You can also catch fainter Uranus as the sky darkens, although it’s no longer close to Venus (as the latter moves quickly and has pulled away). Look for the ice giant in binoculars or a telescope about 4.2° south of the Pleiades, to the cluster’s lower left.
Sunrise: 6:01 A.M.
Sunset: 7:54 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:18 P.M.
Moonset: 5:09 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.
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.
