Starwatch Newsletter Minnesota Starwatch is a tape-recorded message describing the night sky in the Midwest, which can be called by telelphone number (612) 624-2001 It is updated montly, and is produced by the Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

The two most visible planets this month are Jupiter and Saturn. Both are visible in the southern sky, but Saturn sets around midnight about 3 hours before Jupiter will set. Jupiter will be a very spectacular sight for people with binoculars on April 3rd when it passes in front of the Beehive cluster (M44). The Beehive is an open cluster of stars about 600 light-years away.

Mars doesn't rise until between 2 and 3am but will be prominent and red in the southeastern sky just before sunrise. Venus is the morning star and can be seen in the morning twilight.

New moon is April 1st. First and third quarters occur on April 9th and 23rd, and full moon is April 16th.

Friday night telescope viewing begins at 8:00 pm on Friday, April 4th. On April 11th and following, viewing will begin at 9:00 pm to accommodate daylight savings time. Please call 612/626-0034 for more information.

For those interested in the Minnesota Astronomical Society, call 952-467-2426 for information about their upcoming events.

Minnesota Starwatch is available on-line at http://www.astro.umn.edu/Outreach/pub_out.html For fun Astronomy Outreach programs or how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612.630.6151 or visit www.mplanetarium.org.

Also, shows are now playing publicly at the Como Planetarium on a limited basis, please call 651-293-5398 for more info!

This has been Minnesota Starwatch, produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department in cooperation with WCCO Weather Center.

Last Updated: Mon Mar 31 16:32:18 2003