Here are some of the stars, constellations and deep sky objects to see in April:
- 8:15 pm, western sky – Mercury briefly visible just after sunset early in the month
- 9 pm, western sky – Mars rising slightly higher than Mercury over the western horizon
- 9 pm, eastern sky – Jupiter appearing above the horizon throughout the night
- 2:30 am, southeastern sky – Saturn rising above the horizon after midnight
- 6 am, eastern sky – Venus making a brief appearance before dawn
- 10 pm, northern sky – Ursa Major visible high in the sky with the prominent Big Dipper asterism, whose stars point the way to Polaris in Ursa Minor; the constellation is home to a number of notable objects, including the double star system Mizar and Alcor, visible to the unaided eye, and the famous galaxy pair Messier 81 and Messier 82 (Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy)
- 10 pm, southern sky – Leo constellation with the bright star Denebola marking the Lion‘s tail and Regulus its heart, the bright galaxies Messier 65, Messier 66 and NGC 3628 forming the Leo Triplet, the large spiral galaxies Messier 95 and Messier 96, and Three Leaps of the Gazelle, three pairs of stars located between the head of Leo and the Big Dipper
- 2 am, eastern sky – Lyrid meteor shower, associated with Lyra constellation, peaking in the early morning of April 22 with up to 20 meteors per hour, visible after midnight
Related: April constellations