During evenings in April 2026, skywatchers can enjoy two brilliant planets—and lots of bright stars!
In predawn darkness of April 15-26, the Milky Way excels. Very low in brightening morning twilight, a trio of planets will present a challenge for sky-watchers with binoculars. Opposing old and young very thin crescent moons—low in bright twilight on April 16 at dawn and April 17 at dusk—will be even more difficult. I’ve seen opposing crescents on consecutive days only once in my life: on Dec. 31, 2013, and Jan. 1, 2014, from the Coachella Valley!
On April 1, the full moon rises near the time of sunset. How soon after sunset can you find Venus, nearly 21° to the upper left of the sun? About 75 minutes after sunset that evening, look for Spica 10° to the moon’s lower left. At about that same time, Venus and Spica are 4° above opposite horizons, 171° apart.
Note how the three brightest objects in the sky—from west to east, Venus, Jupiter and the moon—lie in a nearly straight line across the sky. On or within a few degrees of that line, you’ll find a collection of zodiac markers. In order from west to east, they are: Venus; Uranus and the Pleiades; Hyades and Aldebaran; Beta and Zeta Tauri, tips of the horns of the Bull; Eta and Mu in Gemini, third-magnitude stars in Castor’s foot; Jupiter, Castor and Pollux; the Beehive cluster and the Aselli, Delta and Gamma in Cancer; Regulus; tonight’s full moon; and Spica. On April 2, the moon will rise within 3° to the south (lower right) of Spica. Spica will be at opposition on April 13, as our planet Earth passes between the sun and Spica.
The moon, in its next run through the evening sky, April 17-May 1, is passing all these objects, plus Zubenelgenubi, or Alpha in Libra. The zodiac is where the action is! A very young moon on April 17 is possible from Western U.S. within about 30 minutes after sunset. Find the hairline crescent with optical aid first, looking just above the west-northwest horizon 17° to the lower right of Venus, and then try with the unaided eye. The moon’s age at the time of your possible sighting from Reno will be only about 15 1/4 hours after the new moon of April 17 at 4:52 a.m. You’ll need very clear skies and an unobstructed view of the horizon, so choose your site carefully!
At dusk on the next evening, April 18, the 39-hour moon, 5° to the lower right of Venus, will be an easy, spectacular sight! On the following two evenings, the moon climbs through Taurus past the Pleiades and Hyades clusters and Aldebaran, and ending near Elnath, the star marking the Bull’s northern horn, on April 20. On the next two evenings, the moon is in Gemini, near Castor’s foot on the 21st, and near Jupiter, Castor and Pollux on the 22nd. On April 23, the first-quarter moon visits Cancer and the Beehive cluster. Use binoculars to see the faint stars of the cluster a few degrees east of the moon at nightfall.
On April 25 at dusk, look for Leo’s brightest star, 1.4-magnitude Regulus, only about 1° west of the 71 percent gibbous moon.
At dusk on April 29, the star Spica, spike of grain in the hand of Virgo, will appear about 2 degrees to the lower left of the 98 percent moon. Use binoculars to follow the closest approach of moon and star during the 10 p.m. hour. On the next evening at dusk, the nearly full moon will appear 11° to the lower left of Spica.
Brilliant evening planets: Venus, shining at magnitude -3.9 all month, shifts east just more than 1.2° daily, passing widely south of Alpha and Beta in Aries early in the month; 3/4 of a degree north of Uranus on April 23; 3.5° south of Alcyone, brightest member of the Pleiades, on April 23 and 24; and 6.4° north of Aldebaran on May 1. At the end of April, Venus is 28° east of the sun and sets two hours and 20 minutes after sunset. Jupiter, of magnitude -2.2 to -2, moves 3° east in April, ending 34’ (nearly 0.6°) north of 3.5-magnitude Delta in Gemini. The Venus-Jupiter separation is 73° on April 1; narrowing to 60° on April 12; 45° on April 26; and 41° on April 30. Venus is closing in on Jupiter until their spectacular pairing on June 9.
There are bright stars galore in evenings in April! After Vega rises in the northeast and before Rigel sets in the west-southwest, 11 of the 15 stars of first magnitude or brighter ever visible from our area can be viewed simultaneously.
Morning planets: Mercury glows at magnitude +0.2 at greatest elongation 28° west of the sun on April 3-4, but it’s only 2° up in mid-twilight from Reno. It brightens slowly in the course of April, but sinks into an even brighter twilight glow. Use binoculars! Mercury is joined by two fainter planets, first by Mars of magnitude +1.2, and finally by Saturn of magnitude +0.9. The most compact arrangement of these three morning planets occurs as Mercury, at magnitude -0.2, passes within 0.5° south of Saturn on April 20. Mars is then 1.3° to the upper left of Saturn, with the entire trio fitting into a 1.7° field.
There are bright stars galore in evenings in April! After Vega rises in the northeast and before Rigel sets in the west-southwest, 11 of the 15 stars of first magnitude or brighter ever visible from our area can be viewed simultaneously.
On April 15 in bright morning twilight, the 5 percent waning crescent moon will be just south of east. When it climbs to 6° up, Mercury is 3.7° to the moon’s lower right, and Mars is 4.2° to the lower left of Mercury, and 5.2° lower left of the moon. Can you spot Saturn rising 3.1° to the lower left of Mars?
On April 16 is a challenging sight, very low in the east in bright twilight: four solar system bodies, in order from upper right to lower left, span 13°. Mercury is the brightest one, 2°-3° up, with Mars 3.6° to Mercury’s left. Saturn will be just rising, 2.5° to Mars’ lower left. Three planets fit into a 5.5° field. Try for a very thin, 1 percent crescent old moon, about 23 hours before new, just risen, within 8° to the left of Saturn.
April 17: The moon is gone. Three planets fit into 4.2°. Mercury is the brightest, 2°-3° up. Mars is 3° to its left, with Saturn 2° to the lower left of Mars.
April 18: Three planets fit into 2.8°. Mercury is the brightest, still 2°-3° up, but slightly lower each morning at the same stage of twilight. Mars is 2.5° to its upper left, with Saturn 2.8° to the lower left of Mercury, and 1.5° below Mars.
April 19: Three planets fit into 2°. Mercury is the brightest, 1.6° up. Mars is 2° to its upper left, with Saturn within 1.5° of the lower left of Mercury, and 1.2° of the lower right of Mars.
April 20: Three planets fit into a 1.7° field, their most compact arrangement. Mercury is still the brightest member of the trio, but is now the lowest. Mars, the highest member, is 1.7° to the upper left of Mercury. Saturn is within 0.5° to Mercury’s upper left and within 1.3° to the lower right of Mars.
April 21: Three planets are in an almost equilateral triangle configuration, fitting into a field 1.9° across. Try to find the trio when Mercury is only 1°-2° up. Mars is 1.7° to the upper left of Mercury. Saturn is 1.6° to the upper right of Mercury, and 1.6° to the lower right of Mars.
On following mornings, Mercury drops lower into bright twilight, increasing its distance to the lower left of Mars from 2° on April 22, to 5° on April 26. Meanwhile, Mars and Saturn rise higher each morning and get easier to see. Look for Mars 2° to the left of Saturn on April 22, and then to its lower left thereafter, by 5° on April 27, and 7° on April 30.
Follow the waning moon earlier in morning twilight, about one hour before sunrise:
April 2: The full moon is 11° up in the west-southwest, 7° to the lower right of Spica.
April 3: The 98 percent moon is 6° to the left of Spica.
April 6: The waning gibbous moon, 82 percent, is in the south-southwest, 4° to the lower right of Antares.
April 7: The 75 percent moon is 8° to the east (left) of Antares.
On April 8 is the southernmost moon, and on and April 9, it’s in Sagittarius, near bright stars of the Teapot.
April 10: It’s 47 percent, slightly less than half full, and has passed last quarter phase.
April 12: The waning crescent moon is at 28 percent, just west of Gamma and Delta in Capricornus, marking the tail of the Sea-goat.
Look earlier, before the start of morning twilight, to see the Milky Way appearing like a cloud of steam issuing from the spout of the Teapot in the southern sky, and passing through the Summer Triangle well up in the east. Look later, at mid-twilight, about 40-45 minutes before sunrise, very low in the east, to spot Mercury with faint Mars rising 6° to its lower left.
The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar includes illustrations of many of the events described in this column, as well as an evening constellation chart. To subscribe for $12 per year or to view a sample, visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.
Robert Victor was staff astronomer at Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. He is now retired and enjoys promoting sky watching to folks of all ages in and around Palm Springs, and East Lansing, Mich. Robert Miller, who provided the twilight charts, did graduate work in planetarium science and later astronomy and computer science at Michigan State University, and remains active in research and public outreach in astronomy.
