Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel into space; the flight took place on the 12th of April, 1961, and lasted 103 minutes. The first space station was the Russian Salyut 1, which launched on a Proton rocket on April 19th, 1971. April was certainly a month for Russian firsts in space. America did, however, make major space history on April 24, 1990, when the first real space telescope, the renowned Hubble, was launched from the space shuttle Discovery; the Hubble has contributed more to our understanding and vision of the universe than any other human space endeavor to date. April is also significant in that it has just been designated “Global Astronomy Month” by the Astronomy Without Borders organization.

A new Moon is due on the 14th of April. The dark, moonless skies will make this a good time to hunt for galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Come to Custer and view these distant objects through our telescopes and imaging gear.

Dark, nearly moonless nights will still be with us on the 21st and 22nd when the Lyrids will streak across the sky. The Lyrids will be an average shower, with about 20 meteors per hour, but they are known for their unusually bright dust trails. Look up after midnight towards the constellation Lyra, which can be found by its principle star, Vega. Vega, which had a prominent role in the film Contact, is the second brightest star in the sky.

Several planets will be up in April. Look westward for Venus and Mercury just after sunset. Venus will be easy to spot since it will be one of the brightest objects (other than the Sun) in the early evening sky. Mercury will be harder to see being dimmer and possibly obscured by the lingering sunset. Saturn and Mars will continue as nighttime planets.

In April, the day will last about 13 hours and 20 minutes. We will be gaining about 2.5 minutes each day as we head towards summer.

Finally, several months ago I suggested that we might be witnessing the onset of a deep solar minimum—a period during which the Sun loses its spots—and predicted a colder, snowier climate ahead. This winter, so far, certainly qualifies as snowier and colder than usual, consistent with my expectations. Although the sun has gained a few spots, longer-term solar activity remains very low and moderate cooling continues to be a real possibility.