Comet C2025 R3 at Perihelion 4/19

This comet starts out faint, but has the chance it might be visible in binoculars as it gets closer to perihelion on the 19th. It’s somewhat easy to find since it spend the first half of April crossing the Great Square of Pegasus.

It’s an early-morning comet in the N Hemisphere the figure above is the for 4 AM (EDT): twilight begins around 4:30 AM and sunrise is just after 6 AM, so you’ll have a narrow window to look for it!

Lyrid Meteor Shower

One of the best meteor showers of the Spring are the Lyrids which peak on the 22nd (the crescent Moon will be up at sunset, but will sets just after midnight), though you’ll see sporadic meteors over the second half of April. In the late evening, Lyra rises in the NE (easy to find from the 0th magnitude star Vega). These meteors are dust shed from the long-period comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher; observations of this shower go back to 687 BCE!

On average, you’ll see about 10/hour with an average magnitude or about 2 (so brighter than most of the stars in the area), though occasional fireballs can happen, bright enough to cast shadows, and leave trails lasting a couple of minutes (in dark skies).

Like the Leonids, there are periodic “good years” for this shower - about every 60 years, but we’re not due for one until c. 2042. Something to look forward to…

Venus is Back!

By the end of April you can see both Venus and Jupiter in theWest - this is the view for the end of the month.

(Coming in June - Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury - just after sunset!)