Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th April 2024
Monday 22nd sees the peak of the Lyrids meteor shower, but I am not going to recommend it highly, as light pollution from an almost-full Moon will make the viewing difficult. If you did want to try hunting those elusive meteors that can occur at a rate of 18 per hour, the radiant point where the shooting stars appear to originate from is just to the right of the bright star Vega in the constellation of Lyra. At 11pm, Lyra will be located towards the north east, with the Moon much further south.
The Full Moon actually occurs two days later, on Wednesday 24th. By 11pm it will have risen above the south east horizon.
Coincidentally, at that time, the tilt of the Moon makes a favourable opportunity to spot one of the rarer clair-obscur visual effects on the lunar surface known as the "Zeno Steps". With your telescope, find the crater Zeno towards the top right of the Moon and then you should be able to spot what looks like three steps leading down to the crater. I have provided an image below, courtesy of astronomer Danny Caes, to help locate the feature.
Because of the way the Moon orbits around us, if you went outside at the same time a couple of nights later and looked in the same direction, you wouldn't see it. By Saturday 27th, the Moon will have become a 90%-lit gibbous shape and it won't rise above the south south east horizon until after 1am that morning. If you do venture outside to see it then, the bright red supergiant star Antares will be just to the right of the Moon.
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2024
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