{"id":56591,"date":"2024-03-31T07:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f64d5f06-55c3-4d6d-ba53-a46216767937"},"modified":"2024-03-31T09:08:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T09:08:22","slug":"catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch Jupiter and Uranus in April while you can! The giant planets fade from our evening sky this month"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Sunday, 31 March 2024 at 07:33 AM<\/p>

\n\n

None of the planets is well-placed in April 2024, all lying very close to the Sun, but Jupiter and Uranus are your best bet for planetary observing throughout the month.<\/p>

Any planets that do re-emerge into the dawn twilight in April do so at a low altitude. Jupiter and Uranus remain in the evening sky in April, but not for much longer.<\/p>

Read our guide to visible planets, month-by-month<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

A 5%-lit waxing crescent Moon sits very close to Jupiter and Uranus on the evening of 10 April 2024 at 21:20 BST (20:20 UT). Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Jupiter<\/a> is best seen at the start of April, appearing above the western horizon as the sky darkens after sunset.<\/p>

It\u2019s losing altitude, a little over 20\u00b0 up when it starts to become visible after sunset at the start of April.<\/p>

By the end of the month it’ll be tricky to find it, so take advantage of any clear skies at the start of the month.\u00a0<\/p>

For more advice, read our guide on how to observe Jupiter through a telescope<\/a>.<\/p>

There\u2019s a lovely meeting between Jupiter, Uranus and a slender 5%-lit waxing crescent Moon<\/a> on 10 April.<\/p>

You can see what this will look like in our chart above.<\/p>

The beautiful lunar crescent appears 3.2\u00b0 to the north of the planet on this occasion.<\/p>

\"An
An image of Jupiter and Uranus together in the sky in 2010. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Jupiter and Uranus fading in April<\/strong><\/h2>

The reduction in the visibility of Jupiter towards the end of the month is a little ironic.<\/p>

The planet has been located very near Uranus for many weeks now, the apparent separation between both worlds slowly reducing.<\/p>

Minimum separation occurs on 20 and 21 April, when Jupiter and Uranus will appear 0.5\u00b0 apart.\u00a0<\/p>

The bright twilight sky should allow Jupiter to be seen fairly easily, but Uranus will be a real struggle.<\/p>

If there\u2019s any chance of seeing Uranus, the best strategy will be to use binoculars to locate Jupiter.<\/p>

If Jupiter appears in the centre of your field of view, Uranus should be visible too, slightly up and over towards the right.<\/p>

Jupiter will be brightly shining at mag. \u20131.9, but Uranus is dimmer at mag. +5.8 on the threshold of naked-eye visibility in a dark sky.<\/p>

This guide appeared in the April 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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By Pete Lawrence Published: Sunday, 31 March 2024 at 07:33 AM None of the planets is well-placed in April 2024, all lying very close to the Sun, but Jupiter and Uranus are your best bet for planetary observing throughout the month. Any planets that do re-emerge into the dawn twilight in April do so at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":56592,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month.jpg",1200,941,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month-300x235.jpg",300,235,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month-768x602.jpg",768,602,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month-1024x803.jpg",800,627,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month.jpg",1200,941,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/03\/catch-jupiter-and-uranus-in-april-while-you-can-the-giant-planets-fade-from-our-evening-sky-this-month.jpg",1200,941,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Pete Lawrence Published: Sunday, 31 March 2024 at 07:33 AM None of the planets is well-placed in April 2024, all lying very close to the Sun, but Jupiter and Uranus are your best bet for planetary observing throughout the month. Any planets that do re-emerge into the dawn twilight in April do so at…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/56591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}