Make the stars your old friends graphic

As with everything in life there are trade-offs, stargazing included.

Overall, spring nights are gradually getting warmer, but they’re also getting shorter. On top of that, we’ve gone to daylight saving time. You’re forced to begin your stargazing adventures later in the evening, but it’s more than worth waiting for.

The very best early evening stargazing in Butler County will be during the first two and a half weeks of April.

For one thing, there won’t be as much moonlight in the sky lighting up the heavens as there will be toward the end of the month. The first half of April also offers more in the way of prominent constellations.

In early April, the bright constellations of winter are still on full display in the western half of the sky.

Orion the Hunter is the main player. His belt, made up of three bright stars in a perfect row, jump out at you. Nowhere else in the night sky will find anything like it. It’s easy to envision the stars of the constellation Orion outlining a muscular man’s torso with a tight waistline.

The very bright star Rigel marks his left knee of the mighty celestial hunter. Betelgeuse, another very bright red giant star, resides at Orion’s right armpit.

Surrounding Orion is his posse of bright constellations, including Taurus the Bull, Auriga the Chariot- driver-turned-goat-farmer, Gemini the Twins and Canis Major and Canis Minor, Orion’s large and small hunting dogs, respectively.

The brightest star in the entire night sky is Sirius, marking the nose of Canis Major.

This month is the swan song for Orion’s gang. As April slides toward May, Orion and his stellar cast will open each evening closer and closer to the western horizon. By early May, many of these winter shiners will already be below the horizon as the evening begins.

Meanwhile, in the eastern sky, the spring constellations are on the rise.

Leading the way is Leo the Lion, a rare constellation that really looks like what it’s supposed to. Leo comes in two parts. Leo’s upper right side clearly resembles an easy-to-see backward question mark leaning to the left. That question mark outlines the chest and head of Leo the Lion. At the bottom of the question mark is the bright star Regulus, the heart of the lion. To the lower left of the question mark is a fairly bright triangle that makes up Leo’s rear and tail.

Lower in the eastern heavens, there’s a giant kite on the rise. That’s the constellation Bootes the Herdsman, with the bright star Arcturus at the tail of the big kite. Arcturus also serves as the brightest star of summer.

Not far away, in the low southeast sky, look for a fun little constellation called Corvis the Crow. About all there is to it are four stars that form a lopsided trapezoid. Good luck seeing that as a crow.

The Big Dipper is putting on quite a show in the high northern sky, hanging nearly upside down in the early evening. One of the old yarns is that many parts of the Northern hemisphere get a lot of rain because the Big Dipper is upside down, dumping on Earth.

As bright and distinct as the Big Dipper is, it’s not a constellation all by itself, but rather the rear end and tail of the constellation Ursa Major, otherwise known as the Big Bear.

Mars is the only naked-eye planet we have available in the evening all month, shining between the constellations Orion and Auriga in the western sky.

Unfortunately it’s not the great telescope target as it was this past October, because Earth and Mars have pulled far away from each other in their respective orbits around the sun. Even with a larger scope, about all you’ll really see is an orange-red dot.

The waxing crescent moon will be passing close by Mars on April 16 and 17, and that’s a conjunction you don’t want to miss!

In the early morning skies, just before twilight, you can’t miss the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn. Look for them in the low southeast sky, hanging close together side by side.

Jupiter is the brighter of the two just to the lower left of Saturn. On April 6 and 7, a waning crescent moon will join the morning planets, making for a great way to start your day!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.