Moon
First Quarter 8th 12:43
-- 02:42
Full 15th
20:34 --
06:05 Last Quarter 22nd 02:29 -- 12:02
New 29th 05:46 -- 20:56
Planets
This is the turn of Mars to shine. It will be its closest to Earth for a couple of years and present a mag -1.4/15 arcsec disc. It will rise on the 1st at 8:30pm as evening twilight is darkening the sky. It will reach it's maximum height of 30° at 2am and will set in lightening dawn twilight at 7am. It will be accompanied across the sky by Spica, 5° away and Arcturus to the north. On the 15th it will already be above the horizon as evening twilight starts and will make its way across the sky in the company of an almost full Moon 5° away, making observation that little bit worse. It will set at 6:00am in dawn twilight. By the end of the month its appearance will not have changed much, but this is the end of its close encounter with Earth, but Earth, on the inside track is pulling away so Mars will present a progressively smaller disc over the following year. Make the most of it with visual and photographic means.
Jupiter will already be 60° high in the south as twilight descends on the 1st of the month, a mag -2.3/38 arcsec disc, up there in Gemini. It will set at 3:30am, giving plenty of time for observation. All month it will already be high up as the evenings darkens, and will set progressively earlier till by month's end it will set at 2am, a mag -2.1/35 arcsec disc.
Saturn will present its mag 0.3/18 arcsec disc at 11:30pm on the 1st and will rise to its highest point of 20° in the south and will be overtaken by the dawn a couple of hours before it sets at 8:15am. On the 17th it will rise at10:15pm and set at 7:00am, again overtaken by twilight an hour earlier. It will be accompanied across the sky by a 1 day short of Full Moon 2° away, On the 30th it will rise at 9:15pm as the sky darkens, a slightly brighter and larger disc of mag 0.1.19 arcsec, and will set at 6:15am, well after the Sun has risen over at the other side of the sky. Not a good month for Saturn.
On the 1st, Uranus will be almost in line with the Sun from where Earth is, just 1° away, so not available. On the 2nd it will be even closer, within half a degree, but of course it is on the far side of the Sun. On the 30th it will rise only half an hour before the Sun so will not be worth seeking this month.
Neptune will rise on the 1st at 6:00am and will immediately be invisible in the dawn. On the 12th it will rise with bright Venus just half a degree away, so it's tiny disc of mag 7.9/2 arcsec will be difficult to see against the glare of Venus. Venus moves on later in the month. On the 19th Neptune will rise at 4:45am and its small blue spot may be seen just before being extinguished be dawn. As a pointer to its position, Venus will be 7° to the left but the dawn twilight may be too bright for this tiny planet. On the 30th Neptune will rise at 4:00am in a much darker sky, but dawn will soon be upon it. The nearest star to it is mag 3.7 Lambda AQR, some 4° to the left.
Meteor Showers.
The only one of note
peaking this month is the Lyrids, on the 22nd, boasting a Zenith Hourly Rate of
18 bright meteors. That amounts to a maximum of one every three minutes, but
they aren't as predictable as that so it may still be worth the effort if
you're already out and observing to keep an eye out for them. Their radiant is
in Lyra of course, and that rises in the east just before dark. A half full
Moon will rise at 2:30am some 50° below and shouldn't spoil things too much.
C/20123 R1 Lovejoy
continues to fade and at mag 13.5 it isn't worth searching for with binoculars.
By the end of the month it will be mag 14.2. Not much else, though C/2012 X1
LINEAR looked promising, it's a daytime comet and not visible against the glare
of the Sun.