Everything you always wanted to know about astronomy
By Bruce Dennis

Bruce Dennis is a retired science teacher from Haverling High School.

That's still Venus in the West as the Sun fades over the horizon below it. We've seen Venus, a bright beacon at Sunset, for more than 3 months now. This may be the last for a while. Saturn becomes visible high in the South soon after the Sun sets, too. Jupiter emerges from the horizon in the East-Southeast in the later part of the evening

(around 9 or 10 PM). By dawn, Jupiter will be the dominate 'star' in the South. Just before Sunrise, Mars appears above the East-Southeast horizon. Mars will be very hard to see because it is so dim.

Meanwhile, the French COROT Space Telescope is searching for more extrasolar planets (planets revolving around stars other than the Sun). The telescope can sense a repeating (over several months) decrease in brightness of a star when 'something' passes between it and the Earth. The 'something' is apparently a planet. Scientists are able to determine its orbital radius, its size, and its composition. Are science and astronomy important? Also, NASA's Cassini has observed and photographed geysers shooting above Enceladus's (a moon of Saturn) South Pole. This could lead us to information about water, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen gas. More later.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower, which happens on April 22nd, will peak during the daylight hours. It will be visible, but at somewhat of a lesser frequency. On the days preceding and immediately after the peak, you will be able to observe them (assuming there are no clouds). On the 22nd and 23rd we should be able to catch some of the 10-20 meteors per hour. Maybe we'll have the pleasure of seeing another

surprise outburst this year. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Venus is more than half-way from the horizon to a point directly overhead as the Sun sets in April. After darkness has fallen, Venus will be lighting-up the sky for more than 2 hours. It is brighter than any other 'star' (except the Moon) in the sky. On April 11th, Venus will pass very close to (to the lower left of) the Pleiades (the 7 Sisters). As you observe Venus in a telescope, you'll see that the orb is very fuzzy with no features. There is nothing wrong with your telescope. It wasn't until 1977 that a satellite (in orbit around Venus) used x-rays to 'see' the features. Visible light can not penetrate the dense clouds and atmosphere of the planet. Once we 'found' the surface, we were able to map the mountains and valleys and learn a lot about its composition.

Saturn is almost as bright as Venus and is found high in the South or Southwest (this depends on when you observe Saturn - when the Sun first

goes down, or later on in the evening). In a telescope or binoculars, you'll see that the rings are tipped more than 15 degrees, and start to close as the month grows older. It'll be 5 years before we see the rings this far open again. Don't miss it.

Jupiter rises about 1 AM on April 1st, and about 11 PM on May 1st. When Jupiter is at its highest in the Southern sky, observe the bands of gas on its surface. Just before dawn, as you'll see, is the best time to observe it. At dawn (about an hour before Sunrise) on April 8th, Jupiter can be observed about a fist-width above a waning moon (it's getting bigger).

Mars (so dim and small that you might spend a long time looking for it) is low in the East-Southeast. It remains as low as it was for the past 3 months. During the month of April, it gets a little brighter, but is still too dim to observe. A far cry from what we were able to observe of Mars about a year and a half ago. Mercury, in that little space below Mars, gets readily and easily 'lost' in the Sun's glare at dawn. However, during the first couple weeks of April, we should be able to observe Mercury before it gets in the 'white-out' of the Sun. Try it.

The Moon is just below Jupiter on the 8th, to the lower right of Venus on the 19th, and sets in the middle of the night for the Lyrid Meteors on the 22nd. Quadar, Sedna, Eris, and 50 other 'dwarf' planets are found in the Kuiper Belt. More 'planetoids' are found every month. It has been decided that Sedona belongs to the 'Oort Cloud'. If you are interested in these, read exerpts from books written on the subjects of your desire at

press.princeton.edu . Happy viewing.