An overview of the major celestial bodies of the Solar System
Sun: Operates in Pisces from 1 to 18 and Aries from 19. April 5 Qingming, April 20 valley rain.
Mercury: 1 Cetus, 2-10 in Pisces, 11-25 in Aries, 26-30 in Taurus. On the 3rd, the sun is close to the sun and is not easy to see; in the second half of the day, it becomes a sunset star, and it is located in the low western sky after sunset. On the 29th, the horizon altitude is 25° at sunset, and the brightness is about +0.3.
Venus: Morning Star, anterograde in Capricorn on 1-3, Aquarius on 4-28, and Pisces on 29-30. The solar distance angle during the month is maintained between 42 ° and 46 °, which is the best observation period of the year, with a brightness of -4.4 and so on, rising from the east at about 3:20.
Mars: 1-11 in Capricorn anterograde, 12 into Aquarius anterograde. The month rises at around 3:30 a.m. and at the end of the month at about 2:04 p.m. The distance angle from the Sun is expanded from 52° to 58°, and the apparent brightness is about 1 magnitude.
Jupiter: Anterograde in Aquarius from 1 to 14, and enter Pisces from 15 onwards. The distance angle from the Sun expands rapidly from 20° at the beginning of the month to 42° at the end of the month. The lifting time is also advanced from 5:00 to 3:25. Apparent brightness is about -2, etc.
Saturn: Anterograde in Capricorn. At the beginning of the month, it is close to Venus and Mars, and gradually moves away from the middle of the month. The month rises at around 3:36 a.m. and at the end of the month at about 1:05 p.m. The distance angle from the Sun is expanded from 49° to 75°, and the apparent brightness is about 0.8.
Uranus: Anterograde in Aries. The drop-off time was moved from about 20:30 to about 18:50. The end of the month is close to the sun and is almost invisible.
Neptune: Going down in Aquarius. The sun angle expands from 18° to 45°, and the rise at the end of the month is around 3:15. Apparent brightness is about 7.8 and so on.
Recommended this month
——————————
MUST SEE
April 5 Mars joins Saturn
Rare index ★★ ☆☆☆☆
Difficulty index ★ ☆☆☆☆☆
Recommended index ★★ ☆☆☆☆
Last month, the planets piled up. This month, they will gradually open up from each other. Well, since planets in inner orbit run faster than planets on the outside, such as Venus faster than Mars, mars faster than Saturn, this kind of situation where you catch up with each other tends to form a situation where multiple planets meet. The so-called "union" refers to the moment when the retinal meridians of two celestial bodies are equal, and it is usually also the time when the two are closest.
On April 5, Mars and Saturn moved to a position of only 0.3 degrees apart. The best time to see it is around 5 a.m. It is best viewed with binoculars.
Simulate a 7×50 binoculars observing Saturn and Mars in the early hours of April 5 (Credit: Water Brother/Stellarium simulation)
April 13 Jupiter joins Neptune
Difficulty index ★★★★★
Recommended index ★ ☆☆☆☆
This month, the four planets of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn are lined up in the southeastern earth's air at dawn. But in fact, there is a Neptune in the middle. In the early hours of April 13, jupiter and Neptune were at an angle of only about 0.11 degrees. However, since neptune's brightness is only ~1/8000 of Jupiter's, and even Jupiter's Europa and Ganymede are bright, it is not easy to see Neptune in the morning light.
Jupiter and Neptune at around 4:50 a.m. on April 14, 2022 (Source: Brother Water/Stellarium simulation)
From April 17 to 19, the wood gold fire soil is isometrically arranged
Rare index ★★★★ ☆
Referral index ★★★★★
As Venus and Mars move closer to Jupiter, the distance from Saturn gradually widens. Thus, by April 17 and 19, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn were almost equally spaced, and the furthest Jupiter and Saturn were only 32° apart. In the dawn is like a row of street lights, and it is good to look at. If you have a wide-angle lens, then you might as well try it.
Schematic map of the position of the southeastern planets in the early morning of April 19, 2022 (Source: Water Brother/Stellarium simulation)
Planetary dynamics in April (Source: Water Brother/Stellarium simulation)
April 28 Venus meets Neptune
Rare index ★★★★ ☆
Difficulty index ★★★★ ☆
Recommended index ★★ ☆☆☆
Because Venus was moving so fast that it moved toward Jupiter, on April 28, it had caught up with Neptune, which had previously joined Jupiter. This time even better! Venus and Neptune almost coincide, separated by only 4.5 arc minutes! Neptune's apparent magnitude is about +7.8 and Venus is -4.1, and the difference between the two is 58,000 times! Similarly, since it is almost dawn, it is very difficult to see Neptune. However, these two stars can be so close, but they have only met once in decades, and lovers who dare to challenge themselves must not miss each other.
Venus and Neptune at around 4:50 a.m. on April 28, 2022. The field of view with a red circle of 0.2° is shown in the figure. (Source: Water Brother/Stellarium Simulation)
April 29 Mercury East Macrometry + Mercury Combined Pleiades
Rare index ★★★ ☆☆
Recommended index ★★★★☆
At the end of this month, Mercury is once again in the East Distance, which is another perfect time to see Mercury. At sunset Mercury has a horizon altitude of about 17 degrees, and Mercury's brightness is only 0.3 magnitudes. A careful search is needed with binoculars at low altitudes in the west.
If you can find Mercury with a larger telescope, you may have a windfall! If the weather is clear and clear, and luck is good enough, you will have the opportunity to see the Pleiades in the telescope at the same time, which is what I know as the Seven Sisters Cluster! The two of them are only about 1.7 degrees apart. However, because most of the stars in the Pleiades are below magnitude 2, it is difficult to see them until the sky darkens. By the time it got dark, they were close to the horizon again.
April 28, 2022 Mercury East Distance Simulation (Source: Water Brother/Stellarium Simulation)
April 29, 2022 Mercury Pleiadian Cluster. The outermost red circle indicates a 4° field of view. (Source: Water Brother/Stellarium Simulation)
Star chart at 10:00 a.m. on March 15, 2022 (left) and 22:00 p.m. on March 15, 2022 (Source: HEAVENS-ABOVE.com)
This month's celestial phenomenon is scanned completely
Tip channel
Subscribe to the channel