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CAROLINA SKIES APRIL 2021 N 10 350 To use your chart, hold it over your head. To avoid ruining your 20 LyraLyra 340 night vision with a bright flashlight, use a red . Or stretch a red VegaVega 30 330 balloon or brown paper bag over your flashlight for a muted Andromeda glow. Cepheus 40 320 ~75 minutes after sunset CASSIOPEIA Cassiopeia April 16–17, 2021 Align north on the chart with north in the by Draco A R Pisces ST H RT Larger dots mark finding , the North Star. Begin by locating the 50 N O 310 E T H Hercules T O brighter . . Draw a line between the Dipper’s PolarisPolaris “pointer stars” to guide you to Polaris, going URSA MINOR TRIANGULUM Little Dipper about four and a half times the distance between 60 300 R

A T S the two pointer stars. The Dipper’s handle H Camelopardalis PerseusAlgol T Corona Borealis R

O “arcs” toward the orange star , where N ARIESAries E

70 H you can “speed on to ” and then “curve T 290 O Mizar T on to .” BOÖTES Capella S U R U T Boötes C R URSA MAJOR The winter , , and SerpensSERPENS A AURIGA 80 O Big Dipper 280 T Canes Venatici C are still visible in early spring in the R A TAURUS west. Tracing a line through LYNXLynx (4/16) Taurus WE S Orion’s belt

Arcturus

T

MARS

Aldebaran

S will lead you westward to (the Aldebaran

Mars E

Castor W

LEO MINORLeo Minor T orange “eye” of Taurus) or eastward to COMAComa BERENICES Berenices A E A MOON (4/17) C I P

S Pollux (the brightest star in the night sky). GEMINI

O

T Gemini ORION

N

O

CANCER D

These winter stars and constellations are E

E 260

100

P

S

LEO Orion

Betelgeuse

followed across the sky by the spring Leo

Betelgeuse

LibraLibra patterns Leo, Ursa Major (which includes the VIRGOVirgo Regulus Big Dipper) and . Find Leo the just Canis Minor

ProcyonProcyon EridanusEridanus 250

110 S U I R Rigel south of the Big Dipper by locating the I Spica S Spica O T MONOCEROSMonoceros T backward question mark that outlines Leo’s L SEXTANSSextans E B ’S N head and mane. O CORVUS I

R 240

120 Sirius O LEPUSLepus Corvus HYDRAHydra Reddish Mars appears in the west at nightfall. CRATERCrater Sirius

CANIS MAJORCanis Major

230 Where’s the Moon? The Moon’s apparent position 130 changes as it goes through its phases from new to full PYXISPyxis Columba

and back again in about a “moonth.” During theLupus 220 140 Caelum MOON PHASES Statewide Star Party on April 16 and 17, 2021, the waxing ANTLIAAntlia

Puppis April 4 – last quarter 210 crescent Moon will be visible in the afternoon and evening sky. 150

Centaurus April 11 – new moon

200 160 VelaVELA April 20 – first quarter The International Space Station everyNorma 90 minutes at

Pictor 190

170 CanopusCanopus April 26 – 17,000 mph. When can you see it? Check http://spotthestation.nasa.gov S Horologium GacruxGacrux Horologium SOUTH www.ncscifest.org/starparty

The Statewide Star Party is made possible by the generous grant support of North Carolina Space Grant. © 2021, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate for educational purposes only.