Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the Mile High City this week.
April 27:
- 🖥️ DAS E-Board Meeting: Members’ Only virtual event via Zoom (check Slack and membership email for details): 7:00 PM
April 28:
- 🖥️ NASA Night Sky Network Webinar: Dragonfly: NASA’s Mission to Titan with Dr. Jason W. Barnes: FREE virtual program via YouTube: 7:00 PM
April 29:
- 👀 Check out the waning gibbous Flower Moon next to Spica, the ear of wheat held by the virgin Virgo high in the southeastern sky around 8:45 PM.
April 30:
- 🖥️ Standley Lake Stargazing: Weekly Livestream: Free Online program via Zoom: 6:00PM
May 1:
- 🆓 Get your FREE Full Moon Chips and Queso with the purchase of an entreé from Qdoba (rewards membership required): All Day.
- 🔭 Northern Colorado Astronomical Society: Fort Collins Star Party: FREE in-person event at 📍 Sunlight Observatory, FRCC Larimer campus: 8:00 PM
- 🌕 Full Flower Moon: 11:23 AM
May 2:
- 🔭 Find Asteroid Vesta at opposition, rising in the early morning just before sunrise ahead of Uranus, Saturn, and Mars. Vesta shines at about magnitude +5.7 in the constellation Pisces, making it one of the brightest asteroids visible from Earth, but you’ll need optical aid to see it against the twilight of the rising sun: 5:00 AM
May 3:
- 👀 Look for the waning gibbous Flower Moon near Antares, the bright red star that marks the heart of Scorpius, low in the eastern sky around 11:15 PM.
- 🔭 Check out Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS), the long-period comet from the distant Oort Cloud that reached perihelion April 19th 2026, low on the western horizon the constellation Taurus after sunset, while the comet is around +3.5 magnitude, its best viewed with binoculars due to the light of the setting sun: 8:15 PM
This Week’s Solar System Summary:
- The Sun shifts from rising about 6:08 AM to 6:01 AM, while sunset moves from 7:48 PM to 7:55 PM, continuing the steady increase in daylight.
- The Moon rises in the evening at the start of the week and shifts toward the late evening and overnight hours by the weekend, while moonset moves from the early morning into the late morning hours.
- Venus shines brightly in the western sky after sunset and sets between 10:05 PM and 10:20 PM.
- Jupiter remains visible in the evening but is setting earlier each night, moving from about 1:30 AM to 1:15 AM.
- Mercury, Mars, and Saturn remain close to the Sun and are difficult to observe, though experienced observers may catch brief views very low in the eastern sky before sunrise.
- Uranus sets between 10:00 PM and 9:45 PM and can still be observed with a telescope under dark skies.
- Neptune rises shortly before sunrise and sets in the late afternoon, remaining a challenging target requiring excellent conditions.
This Week’s Meteoric Activity:
You can keep track of the activity of meteor showers as well as those beyond the limits of visual observing by visiting the NASA Meteor Shower Portal.
- Anthelion (ANT): 1:00 AM in central Virgo: About 2 per hour
- April Lyrids (LYR): 3:00–4:00 AM in eastern Hercules near Lyra: Less than 1 per hour (rapidly decreasing after peak)
- η Aquariids (ETA): 4:00–5:00 AM low in the eastern sky near Aquarius: 10–20 per hour (rising toward peak next week, but limited from Denver)
Check Out These Helpful Guides from DAS:
- Where to Explore the 2026 Denver Night Skies
- When to Explore the 2026 Denver Night Skies
- What to Explore in the 2026 Denver Night Skies
Sky Map
- A pdf map of the night sky can be found at https://www.skymaps.com/skymaps
