April skies 2026

- By James Edgar

March 27, 2026

key points from this story:

• Moon near Spica at start of month
• Antares occulted on April 6
• Planet gathering midmonth
• Venus and Moon meet in Taurus
• Regulus occulted on April 25
• Lyrid meteors peak April 22

The Moon begins the month in full phase, and slightly south of Spica, the bright star in Virgo, The Maiden. On the 6th, Antares in Scorpius is occulted in the Southern Hemisphere; for northerners, the star is just half a degree away from the Moon. Apogee of 404,970 km is reached on the 7th. The Moon is at last quarter on the 10th. By the 15th, a gathering of planets join up with a very slender Luna in the early morning sky – first is Mercury, 5 degrees south; then comes Mars, 4 degrees south; and Saturn, 5 degrees south on the 16th. New Moon is on the 17th, almost at perigee of 361,630 km on the 19th. Then Venus, hugging the western evening horizon that day, is 5 degrees south of a very slender crescent Moon in Taurus, The Bull. Uranus is between the two. On the 22nd, Jupiter is 4 degrees south of the crescent Moon, and a day later our satellite is at first quarter, among the stars of the Beehive Cluster (M44). The 25th sees the second occultation of April, when Regulus, in Leo, gets hidden for viewers in southern Canada and most of the USA. Then Spica once again takes centre stage at the end of April, 1.8 degrees north of an almost-full Moon.

Mercury makes for a poor apparition for northern observers, hugging the morning horizon at dawn. On the 20th, a tight triple conjunction with Mars and Saturn will be worth watching. Also in the frame, distant Neptune needs optical magnification to make this a quadruple conjunction.

Venus is prominent in the west at sundown, rising higher throughout the month. The waxing crescent Moon passes by on the 18th. Venus, Uranus, and the Moon complete a dancing trio among the stars of Taurus; then the Moon exits, leaving the two planets together from the 21st to the 26th.

Mars is too close to the horizon for decent viewing, but the trio mentioned above might be worth the early morning rise – needs a clear horizon for observing the triple conjunction.

Jupiter is in Gemini, crossing the sky all through the night. The waxing crescent Moon pairs up on the 22nd.

Saturn is mentioned above – one of the three planets hugging the horizon at sunrise.

Uranus, in the western evening twilight among the stars of Taurus, is joined by the Moon and Venus on the 22nd.

Neptune suffers from the horizon-hugging ecliptic, just like Mars, Mercury, and Saturn. It’s there, but you need a good binocular or telescope to see it.

The Lyrid meteors peak in the evening of the 22nd.