April 1 - April Planets, Speedy Asteroid

April 1 April Planets,  Speedy Asteroid by:

April guide to the bright planets    In April, Mars is the sole bright planet at nightfall. Jupiter rises at late night, followed by Saturn a few hours later. Venus and Mercury appear briefly before daybreak. Read more. Speedy asteroid buzzed Earth last week, 1 day before being detected A small asteroid - now designated as 2019 FC1 - flew closer to us than the moon on March 28. Astronomers detected it one day later. It's the largest of 14 asteroids to pass closer to us than the moon since 2019 began. Read more. Today in science: Comet Hale-Bopp The last widely seen comet for the Northern Hemisphere was Hale-Bopp in 1996-97. Did you see it?

Thanks, everybody, for a great 2019 crowd-funder.

Try for Mercury at Tuesday's dawn    On Tuesday morning, April 2, the moon will be a very thin crescent, below bright Venus. Mercury will be nearby. Venus will be easy, but both Mercury and the moon will be in bright morning twilight. Optical aid will help you see them. Southern Hemisphere observers – for whom the moon and planets appear higher above the sunrise now – have a better shot at them! Read more about planets in April.

Four planets over Hong Kong View larger at EarthSky Community Photos. | Matthew Chin in Hong Kong did catch all 4 planets in the morning sky now - Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mercury - plus the moon, on March 29. Thank you, Matthew! Read more about planets in April. Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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