{"id":3082,"date":"2025-04-02T02:34:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T02:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2025-04-02T02:34:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T02:34:54","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2025\/04\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through April, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/APR_2025_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between April 1 and April 30, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong>, on the 1st<\/sup>, is close to the sun and not safe to observe. On the 10th<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east at 5:31 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:28 a.m., PDT, 57 minutes later. Mercury is 25-percent-illuminated and 9.8 arcseconds wide. On the 30th<\/sup>, Mercury rises in the east at 5:06 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:04 a.m., PDT, 58 minutes later. Mercury is 58-percent-illuminated and 6.9 arcseconds wide. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> rises in the east at 5:34 a.m., PDT, on the 1st<\/sup>, and the sun rises at 6:28 a.m., PDT, 54 minutes later. The planet is 10-percent-illuminated and 51 arcseconds wide. On the 30th<\/sup>, Venus rises in the east at 4:11 a.m., PDT, and is 28-percent-illuminated and 37 arcseconds wide. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> is in Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Mars sets in the west-northwest at 3:11 a.m., PDT, and is 90-percent-illuminated and 8.2 arcseconds wide. On the 12th<\/sup>, Mars moves from Gemini to Cancer the Crab. On the 30th<\/sup>, Mars sets in the west-northwest at 1:55 a.m., PDT, and is 90-percent-illuminated and 6.6 arcseconds wide. A magnification of 150x is needed to see its small disk.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 12:21 a.m., PDT, and is 36 arcseconds wide. On the 30th<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 10:48 p.m., PDT, and is 34 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons can be seen moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in Aquarius the Water Bearer. The planet is close to the sun until the 13th<\/sup> and is not safe to observe. On the 13th<\/sup>, Saturn rises in the east at 5:20 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:24 a.m., PDT, one hour four minutes later. On the 19th<\/sup>, Saturn moves from Aquarius to Pisces the Fishes. On the 30th<\/sup>, Saturn rises in the east at 4:19 a.m., PDT, one hour 45 minutes before the sun rises. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 10:36 p.m., PDT. On the 30th<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 8:50 p.m., PDT. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 03h<\/sup> 32m<\/sup> 39s<\/sup> with a declination of +18\u00b0 54\u02b9 35\u02ba. The disk of Uranus is only 3.5 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. In the first two weeks of April, the planet rises less than an hour before the sun and is not safe to observe. On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune rises in the east at 5:22 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:22 a.m., PDT, one hour later.\u00a0 On the 30th<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east at 4:24 a.m., PDT, one hour 40 minutes before the sun rises. The position of Neptune on the 15th<\/sup> is Right Ascension 00h<\/sup> 04m<\/sup> 06s<\/sup> with a declination of –<\/strong>00\u00b0 56\u02b9 22\u02ba. The disk of Neptune is only 2.2 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed.<\/p>\n

The first quarter moon occurs on the 4th<\/sup>, full moon on the 12th<\/sup>, last quarter on the 20th<\/sup>, and new moon on the 27th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lyrid meteor shower<\/strong> is active from the evening of the 15th<\/sup> to the morning of the 30th<\/sup>. The Lyrids are named after the constellation of Lyra the Harp, from which they appear to originate. The Lyrid meteors comprise a medium-strength shower, with perhaps 20 meteors per hour at the peak, which will occur from the evening of the 21st<\/sup> to the morning of the 22nd<\/sup>. The Lyrids can produce occasional fireballs. The moon will be a 35-percent-illuminated waning crescent and will not interfere with observations until after 3:13 a.m., PDT.<\/p>\n

In the major lunar standstill of 2024-2025,<\/strong> the April northernmost moon rises as a 36-percent waxing crescent on the morning of the 3rd<\/sup> at 10:25 a.m., PDT, and a 42-percent-illuminated moon sets on the evening of the 4th<\/sup> at 1:53 a.m., PDT. No events are planned at Griffith Observatory. The southernmost excursion occurs on the 18th<\/sup>, when the 76-percent waning gibbous moon rises at 12:18 a.m., PDT, and the moon sets at 9:43 a.m., PDT. No events are planned at Griffith Observatory. For details on the major lunar standstill, please visit the website at https:\/\/griffithobservatory.org\/extreme-moon-the-major-lunar-standstills-of-2024-2025\/<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> 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\/2025\/04\/APR_2025_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between April 1 and April 30, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury, on the 1st, is … 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-3082","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\/3082","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=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3089,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions\/3089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}