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By Deane Morrison
As spring shifts into high gear, the constellation Leo, the lion, takes center stage.
Leo moves steadily westward and finishes the month high in the south at nightfall. The lion appears to be driving the bright winter stars westward, toward their annual plunge into the sunset. Outlining the lion's head is the backward question mark of stars called the Sickle, which is anchored by Regulus, Leo’s brightest star. If there’s any doubt which star is Regulus, look on April 25, when a waxing moon appears next to it.
On a clear moonless night, find a star chart and look for the lovely Beehive star cluster, a faint spot of light roughly midway between Regulus and Jupiter, the brightest object west of Regulus. The Beehive comprises about a thousand stars, all born from the same cloud of collapsing gas and shining from approximately 600 light-years away.
April’s full moon arrives at 9:12 p.m. on the 1st. That evening, it rises very round and beautiful against a pale sky.
On Saturday, the 18th, a young moon appears to the right of Venus in the west-northwest, above the fading sunset. On the 19th, the moon and Venus bracket the lovely Pleiades star cluster. The lunar crescent will be quite large both evenings, since the moon will be near perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit.
On May 1, we celebrate what began as the ancient Celtic holiday of Beltane, one of the four days falling midway between an equinox and a solstice — in this case between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. It started at sundown April 30, when, according to Celtic lore, the evil spirits that had wreaked havoc on humans since Halloween had a last fling before the dawning of May 1 cast them into their annual six-month exile. The night of April 30 is still celebrated, especially abroad, with bonfires and revelry.
The University of Minnesota offers public viewings of the night sky at its Duluth and Twin Cities campuses. For more information and viewing schedules, see:
Duluth, Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium: www.d.umn.edu/planet
Twin Cities, Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics: www.astro.umn.edu/outreach/pubnight
Check out the astronomy programs at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum Exploradome: www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/education/exploradome
Find U of M astronomers and links to the world of astronomy at http://www.astro.umn.edu
3/22/26 Contact: Deane Morrison, University Marketing Communications, (612) 720-3721, morri029@umn.edu
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