With the constellations of winter on their way out, the stars of spring dominate the sky for most of the night. Leo, the season's signature constellation, stands high in the south by the time the last glow of twilight fades away. Look for the backward question mark that outlines his head and mane, and the small triangle to its left that marks his tail. Virgo follows Leo across the sky. And Boötes, the herdsman, rises in the northeast, marked by yellow-orange Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky.
More stargazing information: http://stardate.org/nightsky
Radio Program Highlights
Hear StarDate every day on more than 360 radio stations nationwide or subscribe to our podcast: http://stardate.org/feeds/podcast.xml
April 4-10: Charging past the bull. The Moon charges past the shoulder, the face, and the horns of Taurus, the bull, this week, and we'll have details. We'll also have details on a "great" observatory, plus a lot more on the night sky.
April 11-17: Follow the water. Missions to Mars have found that there's water all across the Red Planet -- a resource for future exploration -- and for possible life. Join us for Martian water, plus a possible explosive birth for a Martian moon.
April 18-24: A basketful of planets. A single spacecraft has tripled the number of possible known planets -- it found as many as 1200 of them. We'll have details, plus the profile of a single star system with at least six planets.
April 24-30: Traffic jam. There's a planetary traffic jam in the dawn sky this week. Only one of the planets is easy to see, but the others are climbing into better view. And the Moon rounds out the crowd. Join us for this and much more.
April Program Schedule: http://stardate.org/radio/calendars
Find an Affiliate: http://stardate.org/radio/affiliates
Open House in Fort Davis
Come enjoy an Open House at McDonald Observatory on Saturday, April 9. The day of free, family-friendly events runs from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and includes tours of large research telescopes, science talks, a star party and other telescope viewings. We'll also have hotdogs, face painting, and balloons.
For more information and to make your reservations for the free events, which are likely to fill up, see: http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/openhouse
Getting a Facelift for Science
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is about to get a facelift. This summer, engineers will lop off the package of mirrors, instruments, and electronics sitting 60 feet above its primary mirror and replace it with one that is heavier and more sophisticated. The replacement will give the giant telescope a wider yet sharper view of the sky and support a new set of powerful instruments that will allow it to begin probing the mystery of dark energy.
Read More: http://hetdex.org/updates/facelift.php
News From the Observatory
Texas Astronomers Find Super-luminous Supernova
Astronomers led by graduate student Emmanouil "Manos" Chatzopoulos and Dr. J. Craig Wheeler of The University of Texas at Austin have found another extremely bright, rare supernova to add to the new class of exploding stars that University of Texas astronomers identified a few years ago. Supernova 2008am is one of the most intrinsically bright exploding stars ever observed. At its peak luminosity, it was over 100 billion times brighter than the Sun. It emitted enough energy in one second to satisfy the power needs of the United States for one million times longer than the universe has existed.
Read more: http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/2011/0328.html
Astronomy Night at the Museum
An evening of free, family-friendly astronomy events will be held on April 11 at Austin's Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. From 7-8 p.m., the Austin Planetarium will conduct shows in its mobile planetarium. At 8 p.m., University of Texas at Austin astronomy professor Jenny Greene will speak on "Black Holes: Tiny but Powerful" in the Spirit Theater. Additionally, astronomers will be on hand from 7 to 9 p.m. to answer questions at an "Ask the Astronomer" booth. These events are held in conjunction with the American Astronomical Society's Division of Dynamical Astronomy Meeting being held in Austin April 11-14.
More information: http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/education/adults.html#astronomy_night
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