April 2025 Note​s

★  About 90 minutes after Sunset ★

Planets
Mars is very high up in the West and will be moving from Gemini to Cancer during April. It is still bright and its reddish color helps to identify it.  
Jupiter is about halfway up in the West and is the brightest “star” in the whole sky. Remember, the planets do not normally twinkle like the stars but shine steady (this has to do with them being tiny disks instead of pinpoints of light like the stars).

Constellations
Leo the Lion is high up in the East and Orion is somewhat on it side lower in the West. Leo’s head is shaped like a backwards question mark and is punctated by the fairly bright start Regulus. 
Facing North, the Big Dipper is at the 2 o’clock position in relation to Polaris or the North Star. The Dipper’s Bowl always faces towards the North Star. Follow the curve of the Dipper’s handle because it “arcs” to the very bright star Arcturus, which is lower in the East and in the constellation Bootes.