April 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA

The planets offer exciting views in April. Jupiter is a brilliant object in the evening sky, although the observing window narrows as the Sun sets later each day. Mars is past its best, but remains bright and high in the sky. Mercury, Venus, and Saturn make an early-morning appearance before sunrise. And a special treat is the annual Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks in the month’s third week.

Early April is your last chance to spot Uranus. It’s a binocular object shining at magnitude 5.8 near the border between Aries the Ram and Taurus the Bull. 

Scan about 4.5° south of the Pleiades (M45) with 7×50 binoculars to find a pair of 6th-magnitude stars lying east-west. These are 13 and 14 Tauri. Now, move 3° southwest to find a dimmer pair of stars, wider in separation, also lying east-west. On April 1, Uranus stands less than 1° northwest of the westernmost star of this second pair. By the 15th, it stands 0.9° due north of the same star. 

Skywatching Highlights
All Month – Planet Visibility:

Mercury: Visible for a few days in the second half of April, extremely low in the east before sunrise.
Venus: Rising low in the east in the hour before dawn.
Mars: Bright and easy to view after dark all month. Setting a couple of hours after midnight.
Jupiter: Bright and easy to spot in the west after dark, setting a couple of hours after sunset.
Saturn: Visible low in the east below Venus, before dawn in the last two weeks of April.

Daily Highlights:

April 1 & 30 – Jupiter & Crescent Moon: Find the charming pair in the west as the sky darkens, setting about 3 hours after sunset.

April 4 & 5 – Mars & Moon: The Moon, around its first quarter phase, appears near Mars in the sky for two nights.

April 24-25 – Grouping of the Moon & Three Planets: Find Venus, Saturn, and the crescent moon gathered low in the east as dawn warms the morning sky. Mercury is also visible below them for those with a clear view to the horizon.

All month – Venus: Earth's hothouse twin planet has made the shift from an evening object to a morning sight. You'll notice it rising low in the east before dawn, looking a little higher each morning through the month. 

All month – Mars: Looking bright and reddish in color, Mars is visible high overhead after dark all month. At the start of the month it lies along a line with bright stars Procyon and Pollux, but you'll notice it moves noticeably over the course of April (~12 degrees or the width of your outstretched fist at arm's length).