What planets and stars can we see tonight?
Are you a stargazer? Welcome to the April 2025 Sky Watch guide. Astronomer Bob Berman tells us the top things to see this month from visible planets to bright stars.
Visible Planets of April 2025
- On the 1st of April at nightfall, the crescent Moon hovers just above the famous Pleiades star cluster, a major treat through binoculars.
- On the 2nd, the waxing crescent Moon meets Jupiter. Spot their approach as dusk fades to darkness. Jupiter will shine at a very bright magnitude –2.1 in the night sky.
- On the 5th, the Moon has moved on to meet Mars, passing within 2°06’ of each other. The Red Planet, still bright at magnitude 0.5, resumes its direct eastward (leftward) motion. This leaves the area occupied by the stars Castor and Pollux, the names of the twin half-brothers in Greek mythology who represent Gemini.
- On April 12, a full Moon rises around dusk and setting at around dawn, visible most of the night.
- Are you an early worm? In the east at dawn, Venus moves higher each morning, shining at a maximum brilliance of magnitude –4.8.
- From April 19 to 30, look towards Venus at 5:30 A.M. Very low below the blazing planet are Mercury and Saturn.
- On the 25th, the waning crescent Moon joins the trio of planets—Venus, Mercury, Saturn. It hovers to the left of Saturn, and above Mercury—with Venus higher than them all.
Looking for more wonders of the night sky? Plan ahead with my Top Astronomical Events of 2024.
April 2025 Moon Phases
The Full Pink Moon of April rises on April 12, 2025, at 8:22 P.M (EDT). See your local Moon phases.
Read Next
- First Quarter Moon: April 4
- Full Moon: April 12
- Last Quarter Moon: April 20
- New Moon: April 27
The traditional name of “Pink Moon” has nothing to do with its color; rather, this Moon marked the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first spring flowers. See the complete April Full Moon Guide.
Lyrid Meteor Shower: April 21-22
Unfortunately, the Lyrids won’t have ideal conditions this year. The Moon will be nearly full during the Lyrids’ peak, which will make the shooting stars more difficult to see. Try watching in the early morning predawn hours of the 23rd after the Moon has set and the shower’s radiant is high in the east. For more details, see our 2025 Meteor Shower Calendar.
Earth Day: April 22
Don’t forget to celebrate our own planet Earth on April 22, which is Earth Day! How can we appreciate the wonder and beauty of our home planet? Look at the sunset in the West and then spin yourself around to face East. What do you see near the horizon?
You’ll often notice a band of pink or orange-hued sky with a blueish band underneath. These bands move upward following sunset to form an arch over the sky that slowly fades as night sets in. The dark blue band is Earth’s shadow rising. Above it, the rosy-hued band is known as the “Belt of Venus,” a cool phenomenon that forms an arch with Earth’s shadow at sunset! It’s a beautiful sight.
Bob Berman
ADVERTISEMENT
I saw the totality today! Amazing! 😎☀️🌕
I have a full window facing west + north; I will look for Mercury & Venus near the Moon~
Anne, it was stunning. I hope you got to see it!
I live on the west coast of Florida. What should I be able to see.
I highly recommend getting the Stellarium App on your phone, tablet or computer. You put in your location and you can look at the sky at any time during the night or even the day for that matter and it will tell you exactly what the sky will look like at your location at any given time! It’s wonderful. I also highly recommend this wonderful wonderful website:
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
It is great for beginners. I started looking at it in 2003 and I have learned so many of the constellations and the stars and their magnitude and the planets and the moon phases etc.. Very fun and educational. Good luck and you should have some wonderful stargazing all summer. I live in Texas, and our views are probably similar.
Thanks for the article. I love looking at the night sky. I have not been unable to see the Belt of Venus. I see the dark blue of Earth’s shadow but not the pink. Is that because off my elevation (4300’)?
I use the SkyView Lite app. It’s free, or you can buy an upgrade. It’s displays is red, so it doesn’t interfere with your night vision. It even shows what’s behind the mountain and below the horizon. Pretty cool.
My husband explained to me that planets don’t twinkle and that is one way to distinguish them from stars. There is a wonderful website called Stellarium, They also make a very useful app for your phone. You can set your location and look at how the sky looks from your location. You can advance forward or backwards in time by minutes, hours, even months or years. You can get into the settings and decide how much information you want, I have names of brightest stars, planets, the celestial equator and the meridian but I don’t have much more set right now because the map gets too cluttered. I keep it simple. I have learned so much from this! Hope this helps you!
Thanks for the info; I finally located Mars last year; very interesting~
Hi, and just now seeing your reply a year later! So glad you got to see Mars. Hope you have good weather this month for all the spring stars and constellations.
Thanks for explaining the locations of the Planets this month April; I'll print this to use during the nitetime sky;
