We start April with a glorious tableau of planet, moon and stars. The chart shows the view looking west-south-west from London at 2030 BST on 1 April. The last of the twilight will still be visible in the west, but in the rest of the sky the night will be nearly fully gathered.
The stars of the familiar constellations of Orion, the hunter, and Taurus, the bull, will be easy to spot, as will the brilliant beacon of Jupiter. The planet will be sitting between the horns of Taurus. The face of the bull is marked by the V-shaped collection of stars known as the Hyades, and its eye is denoted by Aldebaran.
Notice the subtle differences in the red light coming from Aldebaran and nearby Betelgeuse in Orion. Betelgeuse will be a deeper red, as dictated by its lower surface temperature; Aldebaran will appear more orange.
But the star of the show will be the waxing crescent moon cruising past the Pleiades star cluster. Just under four days old, the moon will have about only 16% of its visible surface illuminated.
The display will be easily visible from the southern hemisphere too: look north-west.
