Posted 4/4/01 April Starwatch Mars dominates all the other bright planets during April, en route to staging one of its most brilliant apparitions. April also brings a minor meteor shower, as well as the rainy variety, and ends, as always, with the old Celtic holiday now called May Day. Jupiter and Mars take a final bow, spending their last full month in the western evening sky before diving into the sun's glare. Saturn leads the way, followed by brilliant Jupiter and less bright Aldebaran, the eye of the bull in Taurus. With them go most of the bright winter stars, including Sirius, the most luminous of all. Venus, now a morning planet, climbs steadily in the predawn sky. By the 30th it will come up 90 minutes before sunrise; look for it near the horizon and just north of due east. Our sister planet passed in front of the sun March 30 and will remain in the morning sky for the rest of the year. Mercury makes a brief foray into the morning sky during the first week of April but never gets high enough for good viewing. Mars rises at about 1 a.m. (daylight time) and waxes bigger and brighter every day. Through a small telescope, some of its more prominent features may be discernible. Earth is rapidly catching up to its mysterious partner and will pass it in June, when Mars will be the closest it has been in 13 years. Look for it about an hour before sunrise in the south, between Scorpius and the Teapot of Sagittarius. The moon will be especially round when it rises on the 7th because it will reach fullness only three hours later. The full moon of April is known as the Egg Moon or the Sprouting Grass Moon. Some coastal American Indian tribes also called it the Fish Moon because this is the season when shad move upstream to spawn. A new moon arrives on the 23rd, and on the 25th a thin crescent will come out in the evening in company with Saturn, Jupiter and Aldebaran. The Lyrid meteor shower peaks the night of the 21st-22nd. Skies will be moonless and ideal for spotting the meteors, which radiate from an area of sky near the constellation Lyra. Meteors should appear by about 11 p.m., but Lyra will get higher and more favorable during the next few hours. It's hard to predict how many meteors will appear, but a rate of one every three or four minutes is reasonable. Lyrid meteors tend to come fast, and many leave a bright trail. The Big Dipper hangs upside down, very high in the night sky. Far to the south, Corvus, the crow, and Crater, the cup, are now most favorable. Crater, regarded by ancient Greeks as Apollo's cup, is quite faint. Both Corvus and Crater appear below Virgo, marked by the bright star Spica in the south-southeast. The night of April 30 is Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night, the end of the dark half of the Celtic year. This is the night of a witches' sabbath, when the evil spirits that have been on the loose since Halloween have their last fling. Goethe featured the night in Faust. ©Post Review