Sky Matters: The super-moons are on their way back

And we might be able to see meteor showers at the end of April, if the full moon doesn't block our view

Mon, 29 Mar, 2021 - 20:03

Niall Smith

Planet watchers may find April frustrating. Apart from Mars, none of the other planets that can be seen with the unaided eye are well-placed to be observed. Mars is past the brightness it displayed in the latter part of 2020, but it can be seen after dark throughout the month. Look towards W-SW and you should be able to spot it by its red colour. If in doubt, the Moon is close to the left of Mars on April 17, but the Irish weather might not oblige. You could, possibly, confuse Mars with the nearby star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion.

Similar in brightness and colour (Betelgeuse is a little less reddish), they look like poor clones of one another. Closer inspection with your eyes may reveal that Betelgeuse twinkles, while Mars does not (at least not much). This is a clue to their different structures, but more particularly to their different distances. Light from Betelgeuse takes over 640 years to reach us, whereas light from Mars takes, on average, about 12 minutes.