{"id":3137,"date":"2026-04-01T02:41:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3137"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:46:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:46:59","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2026\/04\/01\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-april-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through April, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR_2026_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between April 1 and April 30, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong> rises in the east at 5:35 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:40 a.m., PDT, one hour five minutes later. Mercury is 45-percent illuminated and 8.0 arcseconds wide. On the 8th<\/sup>, Mercury rises in the east at 5:30 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:31 a.m., PDT, one hour one minute later. Mercury is 56-percent illuminated and 7.1 arcseconds wide. For the remainder of April Mercury is close to the sun and cannot be safely observed. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> sets in the west at 8:52 p.m., PDT, on the 1st<\/sup>, and the sun sets at 7:14 p.m., PDT, and is 94-percent illuminated and 10 arcseconds wide. On the 30th<\/sup>, Venus sets in the west-northwest at 9:52 p.m., PDT, and is 88-percent illuminated and 12 arcseconds wide.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> begins April close to the sun and cannot be safely observed. On the 30th<\/sup>, Mars rises in the east at 5:02 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:05 a.m., PDT, one hour three minutes after. The planet is 98-percent illuminated and 4.1 arcseconds wide. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in the constellation Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 2:33 a.m., PDT, and is 37 arcseconds wide. On the 30th<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 12:50 a.m., PDT. 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 the constellation Cetus the Monster. The planet is close to the sun until the 26th<\/sup>, and it is not safe to observe it. On the 26th<\/sup>, Saturn rises in the east at 5:04 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:09 a.m., PDT, one hour five minutes later. 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 the constellation Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 10:57 p.m., PDT. On the 30th<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 9:10 p.m., PDT. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3h<\/sup> 49m<\/sup> 1s<\/sup> with a declination of +19\u00b0 51\u02b9 44\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 the constellation Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune rises in the east at 6:22 a.m., PDT. On the 30th<\/sup>, the planet rises in the east at 4:31 a.m., PDT. The position of Neptune on the 15th<\/sup> is Right Ascension 0h<\/sup> 12m<\/sup> 4s<\/sup> with a declination of –<\/strong>0\u00b0 7\u02b9 23\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 moon<\/strong> is full on the 1st<\/sup>, last quarter on the 9th<\/sup>, new on the 17th<\/sup>, and first quarter on the 23rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

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

The Lyrid meteor shower<\/strong> is active from the evening of April 14 to the morning of the 30th<\/sup>. The parent body is comet C\/1861 G1 (Thatcher). 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 crescent, 27-percent illuminated and will not interfere with observations.<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and 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\/2026\/04\/APR_2026_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between April 1 and April 30, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury rises in the east … 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-3137","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\/3137","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=3137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3146,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137\/revisions\/3146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}