For guidance on reading the tables for beginners – please go here
NOTABLE EVENTS
SOLAR ECLIPSE on April 8! The middle of the eclipse will be at 16:21 EDT, but in Vancouver, it will occur about an hour earlier than the “Ottawa-corrected time”, and roughly 15minutes later in the east with respect to the Ottawa-corrected time. Click the link to our other page on How to View the Solar Eclipse
The constellation of Bootes is showing itself above the eastern horizon. The bright star Arcturus is at its base. It is an “off-white, or yellowish coloured star, and if close to the horizon it may be seen twinkling in the evening air.
As the sky darkens around April 21, you can use the bright planet Jupiter to locate the much fainter planet Uranus. Uranus will be only ½ degree to the right of Jupiter. Jupiter is 900-million km from us with Uranus is out to 3-billion km away.
For more information go to: A Cosmic Commotion Harrowsmith’s Astronomy Editor, Robert Dick, weighs in on April 8th’s Total Solar Eclipse.
Apr 1 Last Quarter Moon 23:15
Apr 8 SOLAR ECLIPSE!!, New Moon 14:21
Apr 9 Regulus on the meridan at 9:57pm
Apr 10 Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Uranus within binocular field
Apr 15 First Quarter Moon 15:13
Apr 18 Sun enters Aries
Apr 20 Binocular observation! 16 deg above western horizon at 8pm. Planet Uranus only 1/2 deg from Jupiter
Apr 21 Pleiades star cluster 10 deg above Jupiter
Apr 23 Full Moon 19:49
MONTHLY TABLE
ECLIPSES:
This is a great year for eclipses with a faint and prominent lunar pair, and a memorable solar eclipse. The solar eclipse will be visible over most of North America, but only a small portion will see the total eclipse spectacle. The rest of the continent will see only a portion of the. Sun covered by the Moon. Therefore we will leave a more detailed discussion for another article in this chapter.
We list Ottawa times (Daylight Saving) to align with the general practice of referencing events to the Nation’s capital.
The Total Solar Eclipse on April 8! The middle of the eclipse will be at 16:21 EDT, but in Vancouver, it will occur about an hour earlier than the “Ottawa-corrected time”, and roughly 15minutes later in the east with respect to the Ottawa-corrected time.
Total Solar Eclipse Path – April 8, 2024
For more information on How to View the Solar Eclipse
Dates for the Phases of the Moon
Entries are in Eastern Time and only require time zone correction. Do not use the correction from the “Ottawa-Time” table. Saskatchewan and parts of BC and Ontario do not use daylight savings. In these regions, subtract 1-hour from these times from March 10 to November 3.
Planetary Configurations
When at Opposition, planets will appear on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun – very roughly on the meridian at midnight. Conjunctions are when the planet has the same “longitude” as the Sun. A Superior Conjunction is when the planet is on the other side of the Sun, and an Inferior Conjunction is when it is between the Earth and the Sun. Only Mercury and Venus can be at Inferior Conjunction. Maximum elongation is when Mercury and Venus appear farthest from the Sun in our sky. This occurs either in our morning eastern sky (mor.) or our western evening sky (eve.). Do not apply the Ottawa-correction times to the times in this table.
Prominent Constellations by Seasons
Brightest Stars
