Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 17:00

Monday 24th to Sunday 30th April 2023

If you venture outside around 11pm on Tuesday 25th and look towards the west, a 32%-lit waxing Crescent Moon will be just to the right of planet Mars. Look further right, down close to the horizon and you should be able to catch a glimpse of Venus just before it sets.

Go back outside and look to the west again a couple of days later, on Thursday 27th and Mars will appear to be roughly in the same position, but because the Moon is much closer to us and orbiting around the Earth every 27.3 days, it will appear to be in a different position. This time it will be above and to the left of Mars.

As the Moon orbits around us, the angle of sunlight hitting its surface changes every day which causes the different phases. On Tuesday you will have seen a crescent shape, but by Thursday evening it will have become what is known as a First Quarter. The Moon is currently "waxing" which means that it is heading towards a Full Moon when you see the whole of the surface that faces us illuminated. Then it will become "waning" as it heads back towards a New Moon.

While you are looking at the Moon on the Thursday evening, point your telescope slightly down and to the left of it to find the open cluster of stars known as the Beehive Cluster or M44 in the Charles Messier catalogue. M44 is a bit further away from us than the Hyades cluster that we looked at last week - about 610 light years and it is also larger with around 1000 stars.

Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2023
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