Delightful Cosmic Panorama 

The arcane array of peculiar giant planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, residing in charismatic constellations that are sketched by scintillating stars, would adorn the night skies of this month. Elusive planet Mercury would not be readily perceived, as it would be in the sun’s vicinity. It would be marching with stars in the constellation Pisces (fish) during the day. Planet Venus will not be visible this month due to its proximity to the sun. It would be above the eastern horizon at sunrise to be seen succinctly below the charming circlet asterism of the confounding constellation Pisces. Venus and Neptune would be very close to one another on April 3. 

The pair would not be picked out easily since they would be in Sun’s neighbourhood. As a humble warning to sky-watchers, never gaze through binoculars or telescopes at any object near the sun; doing so may result in permanent blindness. Planet Mars could be marked at dawn in the eastern sky shortly before sunup. It would be merrily mingling with stars that are coruscating in the southwest section of the comely constellation Aquarius (water bearer). It would then slide towards the horizon and be evanescent after hovering above the eastern tip of the triangle-mimicking constellation Capricornus (sea goat). 

The ringed planet Saturn with its moons could be savoured briefly in the eastern sky before daybreak. It would then be lost in the solar glare. It would be prancing among the softly lit stars on the eastern flank of the amazing constellation Aquarius. Mars and Saturn will be approaching each other on April 11. They would be visible just before sunrise and would be climbing relatively high before fading away from view by daylight.

 Mars and Neptune will be together on April 29. The pair would be lying low in the eastern sky at dawn and would be reaching their highest point in the sky during the daytime. They would be inhabiting the constellation Pisces. 

Planet Neptune would not be noticed this month since it would be adjacent to the sun and would be gliding with stars of the constellation Pisces during the day. Jupiter and Uranus would make a tight try on April 20. Jupiter would be rushing below Uranus. 

They would be submerged in the sun’s irradiance in the constellation Aries (Ram). Planet Jupiter, with its puzzling Galilean moons, could be seen in the western sky as dusk turned into darkness. It would then slowly sink towards the horizon and fade away. 

It would be cavorting gleefully with the stars of the puny-appealing constellation Aries. The far-flung planet Uranus could be discerned tersely in the western sky after evening twilight. It would be sailing at the start of the month in the barren expanse of the compact constellation Aries. It could be glanced at to the east of Jupiter.

The new moon would befall on April 8. A total solar eclipse could be enjoyed on this day. Such an exceptional eclipse would occur when the moon completely blocks the sun, revealing the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. 

This rare, once-in-a-lifetime eclipse would be enjoyed by enthusiasts in the United States. The path of totality of the eclipse would begin in the Pacific Ocean and move across parts of Mexico, the eastern United States, and Nova Scotia. 

Beholding this extraordinary eclipse live would deplorably not be possible this time for us. The full moon would transpire on April 23. It would be popularly dubbed the pink full moon because it would generally herald the appearance of the moss pink or wild ground phlox, which would be considered one of the first spring flowers of the season. 

Coastal tribes had hailed it as the fish's full moon because, during this time of the year, the shad would be swimming upstream to spawn. Ghode Jatra will be cheerfully celebrated on April 8. Venerated Ram Navami will be observed respectfully on April 17. The new Nepali year, Bikram Sambat 2081, will be welcomed on April 13.

 An average Lyrid meteor shower would dramatically display merely 20 meteors per hour at its peak, which would betide this year from the night of 22 until the morning of 23 April. 

Lyrids are responsibly produced by dusty debris left behind by their parent comet, C/1861 G1 Thatcher. The shower would run annually from April 16 to 25. Unfortunately, the dazzle of the full moon would wash out all but most lucent meteors. But patient onlookers could catch some shimmering shooting stars from tenebrous venues after midnight. 

Lyrid meteors would emanate from radiant dwellings in the constellation Hercules (a legendary strong hero) lying southeast of the resplendent star Vega (Avijit) resting in the constellation Lyra (harp). The radiant would be aloft in the northeastern sky before the wee hours of midnight. Stars Vega, Altair (Sravana) in the cute constellation Aquila (eagle), and D eneb in the conspicuous constellation Cygnus (swan), alias the Northern Cross, would draw the iconic summer triangle into the sky. Vega, Altair, and Deneb would be 25, 16.75, and 2620 light-years away from us, respectively. 

The constellation Hercules would depict a bewildering, lopsided, boxy pattern of stars with the keystone quadrangle at its centre. It would harbour the extremely large globular cluster M13, which would accommodate more than 300 thousand stars. Messier Object 13 would be a whopping 25.2 thousand light-years away. 

Comet Thatcher would require roughly 415 years to hurtle around the sun once. Its track would bring it within Earth’s orbit, and then it would tumble afar to a distance of 110 astronomical units (AU). One AU would be the mean span between the sun and Earth, measuring approximately 150 million kilometres. 

Comet Thatcher has been travelling currently outwards away from our sun. It ’would be at its farthest site from the Sun (aphelion) in the year 2070 and then commence its return trip to arrive at its most immediate position to the Sun (perihelion) in the year 2283. American astronomer Alfred E. Thatcher had spotted the comet officially in 1861 as it was trudging through the north polar region of the sky towards the curious circumpolar constellation Draco (dragon). 

Alluring asteroid 532 Herculina, with a diameter of barely 200 kilometres and a wanorbital period of fairly 4.62 years, would be well placed for parsing it pleasantly in the ice-cream cone-shaped constellation Bootes (herdsman) that would be sprawling to the west of the constellation Corona Borealis (Northern Crown). 

It could be astounded in the eastern sky after nightfall. It would ascend in the southern sky by midnight and drop out of sight at dawn in the western sky. It would be in opposition to the sun on April 8, during which it would creep closest to the earth (termed to its perigee), making it look most fulgent in the night sky. 

It was ascertained by German astronomer Max Wolf in 1904. Sparkling star Arcturus (Swati) would beautify boots. It would be 36.7 light-years away. The baffling binary star system T-Coronae Borealis contains a white dwarf and a red giant, which would be questionably 3500 light-years away and nestled in the C-resembling constellation Corona Borealis lying to the west of constellation Hercules. The Blaze Star would be offering a spectacular show that could outshine our North Star Polaris (Dhruba Tara). 

It would probably burst into a gigantic detonation tagged as Nova. This exclusive event could perhaps be witnessed even with unaided eyes for weeks. This cosmic blast would happen when a tiny white dwarf star was locked in the trajectory of the giant red star and would absorb a mixture of hydrogen-rich materials that came its way. It would gradually become hotter until it reached a critical instance when all the energy would be released in a colossal cosmic explosion from a runaway thermo-nuclear reaction. 

The abnormally eclipsing binary star Alphecca would stand out in the semicircle arc of six shining stars, describing the distinctive crown-mirroring constellation Corona Borealis. It would be only 75 light-years away. The galaxy cluster Abell 2065, which would be one billion light-years away, would incorporate over 400 galaxies with strong sources of X-rays. It would be graciously gleaming in the southwest sector of this captivating constellation below the binary star Nusakan, which would be located palpably 112 light years away from us.

(Dr. Shah is an academician at NAST and patron of NASO.)