Eyes on the Sky: April 2 thru April 8

[magic612]

It is a great week for naked eye, binoculars AND small telescope enthusiasts! Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn are all visible in the evening sky, Venus stops by a lovely open cluster early in the week, the Moon stops by two planets later in the week, and don't forget to take a look at the Sun (with an appropriate filter, of course!) as sunspot activity is increasing and you don't want to be unprepared for the Venus Transit in June.

[magic612]

Here is a shot of Venus with the Pleiades I took last night; handheld smartphone over the eyepiece of a 90mm f/10 refractor. Not too bad considering the light pollution and equipment. Anyone else spot this last night, or (if cloudy) hoping to see it tonight?

[Northgate]

Those praying for rain around me are getting their prayers answered unfortunately. We have been very lucky through March though, shame I'm limited to a pair of 40 year old Super Zenith 10x50's until I can make up my mind and get a real telescope!

[magic612]

Sorry to hear that Northgate. I was fortunate Monday night, as the skies were clear but last night it was totally clouded over (and not even any rain!).

Don't worry about not having a telescope yet; there's a lot you can see in binoculars. Do a search for "binocular double stars" for example - there's a lot out there to see with those, and they can really help you learn areas of the sky before you get a telescope.

[Catweazel]

+1 on the bins, you can learn a lot that way. It's been raining here for about 10 hours now

[magic612]

Hope its cleared for you. Finally cleared up some here, though it is also supposed to be quite chilly at night as well - 38F for tonight.

Better than it was in winter though!