{"id":2852,"date":"2021-04-01T05:03:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T05:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2021-04-01T05:03:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T05:03:23","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-30-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2021\/04\/01\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-30-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through April 30, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/SkyReport_April2021.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through the period ending April 30, 2021. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Copper-red Mars continues to recede from earth and shrinks slowly. On the 1st<\/sup> it is 5.3 arcseconds in diameter, and on the 30th<\/sup> it is 4.6 arcseconds. Only a large telescope will show features on such a small disk. For comparison, the Full Moon is generally 1,900 arcseconds wide. Mars starts the month two-thirds of the way up from the western horizon as soon as it\u2019s dark and sets at 12:29 a.m. on the 1st<\/sup> and at 11:53 p.m. on the 30th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Venus begins April close to the Sun and is unobservable. It starts showing up in the evening sky towards the end of the month. On the 30th<\/sup>, Venus is between Mercury and the Sun and nine degrees from the latter. Never observe Venus when the sun is in the sky, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Jupiter rises in the east at 4:33 a.m. on the 1st<\/sup> and at 2:53 a.m. on the 30th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Saturn rises in the east at 3:56 a.m. on the 1st<\/sup> and at 2:07 a.m. on the 30th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Mercury starts April in the morning sky close to the sun and cannot be seen. On the 30th<\/sup>, Mercury appears in the evening sky. It sets one hour and eight minutes after the sun and is separated from it by 13 degrees. Never observe Mercury when the sun is in the sky, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

The Last Quarter Moon occurs on the 4th<\/sup>. New Moon is on the 11th<\/sup>. First Quarter is on the 19th<\/sup>, and Full Moon is on the 26th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks around 4:00 a.m. on the 22nd<\/sup>. The Lyrids are expected to produce around 20 meteors per hour with occasional fireballs, which are exceptionally bright meteors. Some will exhibit persistent trails. The shower is named for the constellation Lyra the Harp because the meteors appear to come from a point near those stars. Because Lyra is nearly overhead by 5:00 a.m., the shower should produce a decent show.<\/p>\n

Measures intended to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus keep Griffith Observatory closed to the public until further notice. Please check the\u00a0Griffith Observatory homepage<\/a>\u00a0for current information.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0All Space Considered<\/a> and\u00a0Griffith Observatory<\/a> on Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/SkyReport_April2021.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through the period ending April 30, 2021. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Copper-red Mars continues to recede from earth and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}