Special to CosmicTribune.com, April 14, 2025

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SUNDAY, APRIL 13

■ Vega, the bright “Summer Star,” rises in the northeast these evenings. How early or late depends on your latitude and also on your longitude within your time zone.

Exactly where should you watch for Vega to come up? Spot the Big Dipper very high in the northeast. Look at Mizar at the bend of its handle. If you can see Mizar’s tiny, close companion Alcor (binoculars show it easily), follow a line from Mizar through Alcor all the way down to the horizon. That’s where Vega makes its appearance!

MONDAY, APRIL 14

■ The Sickle of Leo stands vertically upright high in the south after dark. Its bottom star is Regulus, the brightest of Leo.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15

■ The waning gibbous Moon rises around 11 p.m. at the head of Scorpius. In the early-morning hours of Wednesday the 16th they stand higher in the southeast to south, with orange Antares shining to the Moon’s lower left or left.

■ As it makes its way onto the head of Scorpius, the Moon will occult Pi Scorpii, magnitude 2.9, for observers in Canada, the contiguous U.S., and Central America.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16

■ Capella is the brightest star high in the west-northwest during and after dusk. Its pale-yellow color matches that of the Sun, meaning they’re both about the same temperature. But otherwise Capella is very different. It consists of two yellow giant stars orbiting each other every 104 days.

That’s common knowledge among starwatchers. But did you know that, for telescope users, Capella is accompanied by a distant, tight pair of red dwarfs? They’re Capella H and L, magnitudes 10 and 13. Article and finder charts.

THURSDAY, APRIL 17

■ High above the Big Dipper late these evenings, nearly crossing the zenith, are three pairs of dim naked-eye stars, all 3rd or 4th magnitude, marking the Great Bear’s feet. They’re also known as the Three Springs (or Leaps) of the Gazelle, from early Arab lore. They form an east-west line that lies roughly midway between the Bowl of the Big Dipper and the Sickle of Leo.

FRIDAY, APRIL 18

■ Right after dark, Orion is still in the southwest in his spring orientation: striding down to the right, with his belt horizontal. The belt points left toward Sirius and right toward Aldebaran and, farther on, the Pleiades. Above Aldebaran shines bright Jupiter as shown below.

Jupiter, Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades are getting lower in the west at nightfall. Jupiter shines between the Bull’s improbably long, upright horns. (Their tips, Zeta and Beta Tauri, are off the top of the view). Of the scores of Hyades, the brightest few form a V with foreground Aldebaran.

SATURDAY, APRIL 19

■ Right after dark, the Sickle of Leo stands vertical high in the south. Its bottom star is Regulus, the brightest of Leo. Leo himself is walking horizontally westward. The Sickle forms his front leg, chest, mane, and part of his head. Off to the left, a long right triangle forms his hind end and long tail.

SUNDAY, APRIL 20

■ Find Procyon high above brilliant Sirius in the southwest right after dark. Look upper left of Procyon by 15° (about a fist and a half at arm’s length) for the dim head of Hydra, the enormous Sea Serpent. His head is a group of 3rd- and 4th- magnitude stars about the size of your thumb at arm’s length.

About a fist and a half lower left of Hydra’s head shines Alphard, his 2nd-magnitude orange heart. The rest of Hydra zigzags (faintly) from Alphard all the way down to the southeast horizon. For more on Hydra and his hellish lore, see Stephen James O’Meara’s “Alphard and the Golden Bough” in the April Sky & Telescope, page 45.

■ Last-quarter Moon tonight (exact at 9:36 p.m. EDT). The half-lit “backward” Moon doesn’t rise until around 3 a.m. daylight-saving time. By the very beginning of dawn, roughly an hour and a half later, it’s still low in the southeast: in dim Capricornus and about two fists lower left of the Sagittarius Teapot.

  April 13-20: Rise of Vega, the ‘Summer Star’, The Sky