Direction:<\/strong> West<\/li><\/ul>Mercury is an evening planet at the start of April, shining at mag. +1.8 on 1 April and setting 100 minutes after the Sun. It thereafter rapidly dashes towards inferior conjunction, which occurs on 11 April<\/strong>. This means its visibility for the first part of April is generally poor.<\/p>Mercury passes 1.7\u00b0 north of mag. \u20133.8 Venus on 19 April<\/strong>, but only rises 20 minutes before the Sun, making the conjunction virtually impossible to see, especially with Mercury now at mag. +3.2. Things improve towards the end of April, but only slightly, mag. +1.3 Mercury rising 30 minutes before the Sun.<\/p>Venus\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>Venus is approaching the Sun in the morning sky and not well-placed, rising just 16 minutes before sunrise on 1 April<\/strong>. Towards the end of the month, Venus gets too close to the Sun\u2019s position to be seen safely, rising just 8 minutes before sunrise on 30 April<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>Mars\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>- Best time to see:<\/strong> 30 April, 40 minutes before sunrise<\/li>
- Altitude:<\/strong> 2\u00b0 (very low)\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>
- Location:<\/strong> Pisces<\/li>
- Direction:<\/strong> East<\/li><\/ul>
Mars is currently a morning planet, but \u2013 as is the way with the major planets this month \u2013 is not well-placed. On the morning of 6 April<\/strong>, mag. +1.2 Mars sits 3.1\u00b0 west of mag. +0.8 Saturn, both planets accompanied by a 9%-lit, waning crescent Moon 2.7\u00b0 further to the south.<\/p>Mars and Saturn converge over the next few mornings to reach a minimum separation (as seen from the UK) of 30 arcminutes on the morning of 11 April<\/strong>. On 29 April<\/strong>, mag. +1.1 Mars passes mag. +7.9 Neptune by just 2.1 arcminutes, although this is unlikely to be visible due to the bright dawn twilight.<\/p>Saturn<\/strong><\/h3>- Best time to see:<\/strong> 30 April, 04:00 UT<\/li>
- Altitude:<\/strong> 5\u00b0 (low)<\/li>
- Location:<\/strong> Aquarius<\/li>
- Direction:<\/strong> East-southeast<\/li><\/ul>
Saturn is a morning object but not well-placed, appearing very low in the dawn twilight. A 9%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 3.7\u00b0 southwest of the mag. +0.8 planet on the morning of 6 April<\/strong>. By the end of the month, Saturn only manages a paltry altitude of around 5\u00b0 before being lost to the dawn twilight.\u00a0<\/p>Uranus<\/strong><\/h3>- Best time to see:<\/strong> 1 April, 20:40 UT<\/li>
- Altitude:<\/strong> 14\u00b0<\/li>
- Location:<\/strong> Aries<\/li>
- Direction:<\/strong> West<\/li><\/ul>
An evening planet, now on its last legs as it slips slowly but surely into the evening twilight. Uranus is on of the best planets to see in April 2024, but that’s not saying much.<\/p>
It’s in conjunction with bright Jupiter on 20 and 21 April<\/strong>, but the evening twilight will make this a very hard conjunction to see properly.<\/p>Neptune<\/strong><\/h3>Not visible this month.<\/p>
This guide originally appeared in the April 2024 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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