The star will undoubtedly be the planet Venus! In the evening after sunset, you cannot miss the very bright and high Evening Star in the sky. She will very gradually migrate from the constellation of Taurus to that of Gemini. In a telescope, it will be an opportunity for our listeners to see a pretty part of Venus accompanied by its very dense atmosphere…
Venus is still a mysterious planet with terrible weather and unbearable temperatures. A team of researchers recently discovered that there would still be volcanic activity today with recent lava flows. Take advantage of seeing Venus in particular, on April 23, during its rapprochement with the Moon. The rapprochement will be maximum at the beginning of the afternoon, so try to see the 2 stars in the field of your binoculars in broad daylight. To do this, first find the lunar crescent above your head and you should see the planet Venus not far away.
Other planets to observe
The planet Mars will still be clearly visible at the start of the night in the constellation Gemini on the western horizon. It has lost its brilliance in recent months and yet appears as a fairly bright red star. It is today very far from the Earth at more than 240 million kms and will therefore be very small in a telescope. The planet Saturn will again be observable in the early morning in the constellation Aquarius before sunrise. Take advantage of April 16, May 13 and 14 to see the ringed planet next to the Moon.
Pretty shooting stars to see
I remind you that it is not stars that move, but small grains of cometary dust which, on entering the atmosphere, cause this luminous trail also called a meteor. The Earth will pass through 2 clouds of cometary dust with 2 peaks of shooting stars visible between April 15 and the end of May. On the night of April 22 to 23, in 2th night party, these will be the peak the Lyrids linked to Comet Thatcher which will be visible. The shooting stars will appear to come from the constellation of Lyra and with the absence of the moon, you should see between 10 to 20 shooting stars per hour. Then it will be the Eta Aquarides seeming to come from the constellation of Aquarius which will be clearly visible on May 6 before sunrise. This swarm of shooting stars is known, because they are dust from the famous Comet Halley that we will come across. We should see only the brightest shooting stars because the Moon’s brightness will prevent us from seeing the faint ones…
A new glasses to win
I remind you that a new astronomical telescope is once again put into play thanks to our partners SSVI and RFI. To participate, send on our page Facebook Astronomy Africa your most beautiful photos or video or even a nice text that you have written. The winner will be announced on July 15. Good observations. Good heavens to all and remember the sky is the biggest screen, just look up.
Congratulations to our new telescope winner: Adjaratou Lingani in Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou) which will create the first astronomy club in the country