April 2020 Sky Chart

Observing Tips

If possible, observe at a dark location and when the Moon is not bright. A bright Moon will make it more difficult to see the stars and impossible to see clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Only a small telescope at lower magnifications, around 50x, is required to see the objects listed below. The planets and Moon are best observed with a telescope around 100x.

Moon Phases

	First Quarter	Wednesday 1st.
	Full Moon.	Tuesday 7th.
	Last Quarter.	Tuesday 14th.
	New Moon.	Wednesday 22nd.
	First Quarter	Thursday 30th.

Objects marked with  are best with binoculars, or a small telescope, because these objects are large in size.

Clusters, Nebulae & Galaxies

 Alpha Persei Cluster. Distance: 600 ly / Diameter: 31 ly / Mag 1.2.

 Andromeda Galaxy. Companion to our Milky Way Galaxy. Distance: 2,400,000 ly / Diameter: 120,000 ly / Mag 3.5.

Castor Double Star. Favourite double star. You’ll need a telescope with 50x to 100x to see Castor separate into two stars. Magnitudes of two stars are 1.9 and 3.0.

Double Cluster. Two side-by-side clusters. Distances: 7,200 ly / Diameters: 63 ly / Mag 3.5. Best in a telescope but visible with eyes in dark skies.

M35. Cluster. Distance: 3000 ly / Diameter: 24 ly / Mag 5.

M34. Large Cluster. Distance: 1,400 ly / Diameter: 14 ly / Mag 5.2. Try with binoculars, too.

M36. Cluster. Distance: 3,700 ly / Diameter: 13 ly / Mag 6.0. Try with binoculars, too.

M37. Cluster. Distance: 4,200 ly / Diameter: 29 ly / Mag 5.6. Try with binoculars, too.

M42. Orion Nebula. Brightest nebula in the northern sky. About 30 ly in diameter and 1,760 ly away.

 M44. Beehive Cluster. Distance: 610 ly / Diameter: 16 ly / Mag 3.

 Pleiades. Cluster. Spans about 2° in sky or 4 Moon diameters, Distance: 440 ly / Diameter: 15 ly / Mag 1.2.

Meteor Shower

The LYRIDS peak around April 22 with 15–20 meteors/hour