Celestial Lights
By Phyllis Pitluga

Time to change your clocks

Here in Mexico, in 2009, we move our clocks ahead on Sunday, April 5 at 2am. Mexico has three time zones. The Central Time Zone spans the Yucatán Peninsula to west of Guadalajara.

The western states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Baja California Sur are in the Mountain Time Zone. Just Baja California Norte is in the Pacific Time Zone. Only Sonora, like Arizona, doesn’t change to Daylight Saving Time. People in these desert climates don’t want more sunlight during their active hours.

We turn our clocks back an hour on Sunday, October 25 at 2am to return to Central Standard Time. The dates for this change should be a symmetrical number of weeks before and after the June solstice to have an equal number of hours of daylight on the first day as on the last day of the Daylight Saving Time period. Thus, in Mexico we should change back on September 6. But government people make these decisions, seemingly without consulting astronomers.


Sky Calendar April 2009 

By following the Moon as the biggest and brightest “pointer” in the sky, during the month you can identify different planets and bright stars. On following nights you can relocate them without the Moon—the Moon moves about 25 times its own diameter from one night to the next. The Moon is much closer to Earth than the planets of our solar system, and the stars are even more distant. So, when the Moon appears close to a celestial light, they are actually separated by millions, billions or trillions of miles. 

April 4, Saturday: The Moon passes above the Beehive star cluster in the evening sky.

April 7, Tuesday: The Moon passes below Saturn in the evening sky.

April 9, Thursday: Full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.

April 13, Monday: The Moon passes just above the bright star Antares

April 17, Friday: Last Quarter Moon

April 18, Saturday: Venus is visible above Mars in the dawn sky.

April 19, Sunday: The Moon passes above Jupiter in the dawn sky.

April 22, Wednesday: Lyrid Meteor Shower, northeast at midnight, overhead at dawn. The Moon passes just above Venus about 5:30am, as they rise in the east. Mars is farther below them. 

Apr. 24, Friday: New Moon

Apr. 26, Sunday: Mercury visible in the evening sky. The best viewing this year is in late April and early May about 40 minutes after sunset. Rest your extended fist on the western horizon. Mercury will be just above your hand in the direction where the sun will have disappeared over the horizon. The slender crescent Moon will be above Mercury and near the Pleiades star cluster.