CAROLINA SKIES APRIL 2017

To use your star chart, hold it over your head. To avoid ruining your night vision with a bright flashlight, use a red light. Or put a red balloon or brown paper bag over your flashlight for a muted glow. Align north on the chart with north in the night sky by finding Polaris, ~1.5 hours after sunset the North Star. Begin by locating the Big Dipper. Draw a line mid- to late April 2017 “upward” between the Dipper’s “pointer stars” to guide you CEPHEUS Vega CASSIOPEIA Larger dots mark ) to Polaris, going about four and a half times the distance tar S th brighter stars. or N e th between the two pointer stars. The Dipper’s handle “arcs” DRACO (to Little Dipper toward the orange star Arcturus, where you can “speed on Polaris Algol URSA PERSEUS to Spica” and then “curve on to Corvus.” MINOR ) r a t

S

h t r

o

N

The winter constellations Orion, Taurus, and Gemini e h t

o t ( The Pleaides are still visible in early spring in the west. Tracing a HERCULES Capella Big Dipper BOÖTES Mars line through Orion’s belt will lead you westward to AURIGA Mizar Hyades Aldebaran (the orange “eye” of Taurus) or eastward TAURUS CORONA URSA MAJOR s) to Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky). BOREALIS u r tu Aldebaran rc A o M1 t These winter stars and constellations are followed c r Cor Caroli a ( Castor

across the sky by the spring patterns Leo, Ursa

Arcturus

GEMINI

ORION

Pollux

Major (which includes the Big Dipper) and Virgo.

NGC 2392 ) M44 Find Leo the Lion just south of the Big Dipper by a c

i

p Betelgeuse

S

Algieba

o

t

locating the backward question mark that outlines n

o

LEO CANIS MINOR d

e M42 e

p V616 Mon s Leo’s head and mane. ( Regulus Procyon Rigel

) s LIBRA iu ir VIRGO S o At nightfall, reddish Mars lies low in the west and t lt e Jupiter b ’s n io bright Jupiter becomes visible in the east. Saturn and r O Spica ( Venus can be seen in the pre-dawn sky. In early April, HYDRA Sirius CORVUS Mercury may be glimpsed low in the west, setting soon CANIS MAJOR after sunset. Where’s the Moon? The Moon’s apparent position changes as it goes through its phases from new to full and back again in about a “moonth.” During the Statewide Star Party on April 21 and 22, 2017, the Moon is waning crescent and won’t be visible in the MOON PHASES evening sky. April 3 – first quarter The International Space Station orbits Earth every 90 minutes April 11 – full moon at 17,000 mph. When can you see it? April 19 – last quarter April 26 – new moon Check http://spotthestation.nasa.gov www.ncsciencefestival.org/starparty/

The Statewide Star Party is made possible by the generous grant support of North Carolina Space Grant. © 2017, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate for educational purposes only.