Page 1 Skylights Newsletter of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England Mercury will join it for most of this month, What’s Up in April reaching greatest western elongation from the th By Bernie Reim sun on the 11 . You may need binoculars to spot them. Notice that Venus is about 40 The month of April is named times brighter than Mercury. When you look after the Latin Aprilis, which means at our first planet this month be aware that to open. That is what the buds, we just launched a mission last October that leaves, and flowers will be doing will take 7 years to get there even though it is APR 2019 this month in the northern not that far away. hemisphere as we tilt more towards the sun once Both Jupiter and Saturn continue to rise ear- again. This is farther tipping the balance point lier and climb higher into our morning sky of the earth reached on the Vernal Equinox that this month. Jupiter rises first, around 1 am, will continue until the summer solstice in June and by the end of April it will rise by 11 pm. when the sun will reach its highest and most The King of the planets will stop its direct, glorious point in our sky. eastward motion and begin its retrograde mo- th Member of NASA’s This is the first full month of spring, but as tion on the 10 , exactly two months before it T.S. Eliot says, “April is the cruelest month”, reaches opposition. Notice that Jupiter is because of what it can reveal to us. Winter is slowly getting brighter and that it is about 15 still in full swing in the White Mountains and its times brighter than Saturn. Jupiter is still in surrounding towns. Deep snow covers the Scorpius and after it starts its westward mo- countryside, and it was one degree Fahrenheit tion it will be inching closer to the bright star on the summit of Mt. Washington with a named Antares, which means rival of Mars. sustained wind of 38 mph on the last day of this Both Antares and Betelgeuse in Orion are winter. Its brilliantly gleaming white peak and similar. Both are huge red supergiant stars deeply etched ravines were outlined in stark near the end of their lives. They are each Astronomical League contrast against the flawless blue sky. The regal presence of this highest peak seemed to survey “ Continued on page 2 ” ASNNE MISSION all of New England effortlessly and with unending calm and a great sense of serenity and Inside This Issue ASNNE is an peace. We often forget how close all of this incorporated, non- wonderful beauty is to us in this area and how Club Contact List pg 2 profit, scientific and lucky we are to be able to enjoy it and learn educational more about it. We are all a part of this natural Moon Data pg 3,4 organization with world on the surface of the earth as well as the Sky Object of the Month three primary goals: infinitely greater but just as natural world that stretches way beyond our surface into the more RED ALERT: LASERS IN SPACE pg 5 1) To have fun unfathomable and mysterious depths of space. Club Merchandise for Sale sharing our knowledge and Meteor Showers in 2019 This will be a great month to farther explore interest with others. those depths as the nights will be warming up Mars the Wanderer pg 6,7 even as they get shorter. Many highlights await 2) To provide basic us including four of the five brightest planets Astroimaging with a Point & Shoot pg 8 education in astronomy and gracing our morning sky, Mars and the moon Carl Tymoniewicz: In Memoriam pg 9 related sciences to dancing through Taurus, close lunar all who are conjunctions with Jupiter and Saturn in the Club Meeting & Star Party Dates pg 10 interested. morning sky, the Lyrid meteor shower, and even Directions ASNNE Locations two asteroids visible with binoculars or a small 3) To promote the telescope. Press Release and Club Info Pg 11,12 science of Astronomy. Venus continues to slowly sink farther into Become a Member Pg 13 the morning twilight and it now rises only one hour before sunrise. However, our first planet, Page 2 Skylights What’s Up “ Continued from page 1 ” Club Contacts miles in diameter and will only reach 9.4 about 600 light years away and about 700 magnitude, or about 3 times fainter than Officers: times larger than our sun, which means that if Pallas. You can see it with a telescope all this you could place either of these giants in our month in Virgo near a nice galaxy named President: sky where our sun is located, the orbits of all Ron Burk M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, located about the planets out to Mars would fit inside the 30 million light years away in the Virgo Clus- [email protected] surface of these monster stars. ter of galaxies, one of about 2,000 galaxies Vice President: On Earth Day, April 22, the moon will be living in that nearby cluster. That may seem far away, but this is really our own celestial Bernie Reim just above Antares and the next morning it will be pass within one degree of Jupiter. backyard. To bring it even closer to home, [email protected] Then keep following the moon through Sagit- our very own Milky Way is one of over a mil- Secretary: tarius and watch it pass very close to Saturn lion galaxies that are all part of the Virgo su- th Carl Gurtman just two days later, on the 25 . Saturn also per cluster of galaxies stretching over 100 begins its retrograde motion this month, on million light years across. [email protected] th the 29 , 19 days after Jupiter. April 1. On this day in 1997 comet Hale-Bopp Treasurer: Then Mars remains as the sole evening made its closest approach to the sun. This was a Ian Durham planet. Watch it closely as it is making a sce- once-in-a-lifetime comet that hung around for a whole year and was easily visible with the naked [email protected] nic trek through Taurus, pointing out some of eye as its tail stretched over a quarter of the sky. its highlights along the way. The red planet Board of Directors: begins the month just below the Pleiades and April 2. The moon is near Venus this morning. will then pass right between the 7 sisters and April 5. New moon is at 4:52 a.m. EDT. Gary Asperschlager the Hyades with Aldebaran, marking the eye April 7. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory [email protected] of Taurus the Bull. Compare these two red was launched on this day in 1991. orbs and you will see that the star is twice as Larry Burkett bright as the planet. Also notice the bright red April 8. The moon, Aldebaran, Mars, and the [email protected] Pleiades form a celestial diamond in Taurus. color of Betelgeuse, about another 15 degrees Keith Brown to left of Aldebaran. It is about another 4 April 11. Halley’s Comet made its closest ap- proach to Earth on this day in 1986. [email protected] times brighter than Aldebaran. Keep watch- ing as a slender waxing crescent moon passes April 12. First quarter moon is at 3:07 p.m. Yuri th Star Party near the pair during the evenings of the 8 Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth th on this day in 1961. John Glenn would be a close Co-ordinator: and 9 . second on Feb. 20 of 1962. The annual Lyrid Meteor shower will peak Carl Gurtman on the morning of Monday the 22 nd , which is April 13. The moon will pass near the Beehive star [email protected] also Earth Day. You could normally expect cluster in Cancer tonight. up to 20 meteors per hour emanating from April 14. The moon will pass within 5 degrees of Skylights Editor: Lyra in the Summer Triangle, but this year Regulus in Leo tonight. the full moon will be occur just 3 days earlier, Paul Kursewicz April 19. Full moon is at 7:13 a.m. This is also [email protected] washing out much of the action. Caused by called the Grass, Egg, Pink, or Fish Moon. the earth passing through the debris trail of April 22. The Lyrid meteor shower peaks this Website Manager: Comet Thatcher, there will be a short window morning. The moon will pass near Antares. to catch some of these tiny sand grain-sized Nan Musgrave particles burning up high in our atmosphere April 25. The Hubble Space Telescope was before the moon rises around 11 pm. launched on this day in 1990. Designed to last only [email protected] 10 to 15 years, it is still going strong 29 years and Not one, but two of the largest asteroids over one million amazing images later. Our knowl- NASA Night Sky will be at their best this month. The brighter edge of the universe and where we really live has Network one is Pallas, which will reach opposition on vastly expanded over those 29 years thanks to its Co-ordinator: the 6 th near the bright star Arcturus in Bootes. incredible discoveries. The moon will pass near It will get as bright as 7.9 magnitude, which Saturn this morning. Saturn will be occulted by the Joan Chamberlin moon for parts of the world on the morning of the [email protected] about the same as Neptune, so you would 26 th , but not for us.