April 2025 SKIES
BY: DICK COOKMAN
Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, April Moon.
Focus Constellations: Ursa Major, Draco, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Lynx, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Orion, Gemini, Cancer, Leo Minor, Leo, Coma Berenices, Virgo, Bootes.
Comet Journals
April comets, like those of March are few and far between, with none exceeding 12th magnitude.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has dimmed to 12th magnitude and is in Sagitta as it leaves the inner solar system.
Mars Landers
Mars Daily, on March 28, reports that scientists were guiding Curiosity rover on a path through blocky sulfate bedrock in Gale Crater. They are anticipating the rigors of approaching Martian winter when, in addition to Mars tilting away from the Sun, it is also approaching aphelion (farthest distance from the Sun). They report that “scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) mini-lab and found the molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane, the largest organic molecules found so far on Mars. These compounds, which are made up of 10, 11, and 12 carbons, respectively, are thought to be the fragments of fatty acids that were preserved in the sample. Fatty acids are among the organic molecules that on Earth are chemical building blocks of life. Living things produce fatty acids to help form cell membranes and perform various other functions. But fatty acids also can be made without life, through chemical reactions triggered by various geological processes, including the interaction of water with minerals in hydrothermal vents. While there's no way to confirm the source of the molecules identified, finding them at all is exciting for Curiosity's science team for a couple of reasons. Although Curiosity scientists had previously discovered small, simple organic molecules on Mars, finding these larger compounds provides the first evidence that organic chemistry advanced toward the kind of complexity required for an origin of life on Mars. The study also increases the chances that large organic molecules known as "biosignatures," which can be made only in the presence of life, could be preserved on Mars, allaying concerns that such compounds get destroyed after tens of millions of years of exposure to intense radiation and oxidation. This finding bodes well for plans to bring samples from Mars to Earth for analysis with much more sophisticated instruments.”
Meteor Showers
April 22 is the peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower. It will be enhanced by dark skies as the 3rd quarter Moon does not rise until almost 4AM EDT. Southern hemisphere Puppis meteors peak on the 23rd.
April 22: Lyrids, Active Apr. 14-30, Radiant 18h04m +34°, ZHR variable, up to 90, 49 km/sec., Waning Crescent Moon, Progenitor:Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher).
Planet Plottings
In April, Uranus (+5.8) in Taurus, Jupiter (-2.0 to -1.8) in Taurus, and Mars (0.4 to 0.9) in Gemini and Cancer are the evening planets in the western skies. After dusk in early April, Mars is bright and high in the SSW and brilliant Jupiter is in the western sky with Uranus closer to the horizon. Uranus will be lost in the glow of sunset by mid-month. Both Jupiter and Mars are dimming as Earth orbits away from the two. The waxing crescent Moon passes Uranus on the 1st and Jupiter on the 2nd. The waxing gibbous Moon passes Mars on the 5th. At month’s end, the waxing crescent again passes Uranus on the 28th and Jupiter on the 30th.
April dawn skies are bedecked with a magnificent grouping of the planets Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune! Right before dawn at the beginning of the month, Pisces is slightly above the eastern horizon hosting Venus (-4.1 to -4.4) above Mercury (2.9 to 0.2) with Neptune (8.0 to 7.9) farther below in the glow of sunrise. Saturn (1.2) is slightly lower in Aquarius. By the 12th, the night of the “Boiling Sap” Full Moon at 8:22PM EDT, Mercury and Saturn are side by side, rising about 5:30AM EDT. Mercury reaches a greatest western elongation of 27.4° on the 21st. The waning crescent Moon passes Saturn and Venus on the 24th and Neptune and Mercury on the 25th. On the 28th, Venus is 4° N of Saturn.
April Moon
April’s New Moon is in Pisces on the 27th at 3:32PM EDT. It is the start of Lunation 1266 which ends 29.31 days later with the New Moon on May 26 at 11:03PM EDT. The Full Moon on the 12th at 8:22PM EDT in Virgo is less than 1.0° south of first magnitude Spica. Anishinaabe people have sacred stories about the spirits of spring and winter (young, gentle Ziigwan and the fierce old warrior Biboon) who are fighting for the hand of a young lady and/or for control of the weather. Watch the sky and weather carefully, warm and calm prevail when Ziigwan is winning and cold, windy storms reflect Biboon’s ascendance. Ziigwan’s spring constellations surround Virgo. Mishi bizhiw (the Great Lynx or Panther, who is also known as Curly Tail), is located west of Virgo in Cancer and the head of Leo in the southeastern evening sky. The Sweat Lodge (Corona Borealis) is to the northeast of Virgo, and the Protecting Spirit (Nanaboujou), is within the constellation Scorpius which rises in the east at about midnight in early April. The April Moon is also known as the Hay or Thunder Moon. Colonial Americans called it the “Planter’s Moon”. To the Celts it was the “Growing Moon”, and it is the “Peony Moon” for the Chinese. Medieval English thought of it as the “Seed Moon”. Anishinaabe (Odawa and Ojibwe) people recognize it as Namebin Giizis (Suckerfish Moon) in the eastern dialect or Iskigamizige-giizis and Skigamizige-giizis (Boiling Sap Moon) in eastern or western dialects. Ontario’s Earth Haven Farm presents cultural teachings of the Mississauga branch of the Anishinabek Nation including the cycle of life and nature of the 13 Grandmother Moons. “The fourth moon of Creation is Sucker Moon, when sucker goes to the Spirit World in order to receive cleansing techniques for this world. When it returns to this realm, it purifies a path for the Spirits and cleanses all our water beings. During this time we can learn to become healed healers.”
